Change is not always good
by whispers-of-raspberries
Summary: Sasuke just came back and Sakura is more and more distant towards Naruto. Will he be willing to do everything to get her friendship back or maybe even a little more?
1. Part 1, Chapter 1

**AN: Here is my new fanfic… 'Count on us' is sort of put on hold at the moment, I will continue it but I plan to do this one first because I'm more inspired. I maybe will post one chapter from time to time for 'Count on us' but I can't promise anything. However, for this story, I will surely update more often. Well, enough talking, time to read… Hope you will enjoy it!**

**Title:** Change is not always good

**Summary:** Sasuke just came back and Sakura is more and more distant towards Naruto. Will he be willing to do everything to get her friendship back or maybe even a little more?

**Characters:** Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke

Takes place during Shippuden, after Sasuke kills his brother.

'_Blablabla'_ : thoughts

___

It was night time, the owls were flying and the wind was making scaring noises. From the forest around Konoha got out two figures, two men. One was standing using his last strength and was carrying the other on his back. The blond made one step and collapsed. The darkness seemed to be enveloping them but never touching the blond man. Brightness and warmth came from his body. Nobody could guess what he was thinking. If someone was watching him from a distance, he would have thought that this man was exhausted and crying because of the pain he was in. But if someone was watching him carefully and closely, he would have seen his smile, a true smile of happiness. He was finally able to keep his promise to the person he most loved. He was finally able to bring him back: Sasuke Uchiha.

All that happened after that was very quick. The next morning, they were found, both bleeding and both almost dead. One seemed to be devastated, his black hair was darker than usual and the other one seemed to be incredibly peaceful, his blond hair playing with the wind. They were brought to the hospital where a pink kunoichi healed them. Before closing his eyes, the blond whispered to his best friend and long time love: "See, told ya I'll bring him back." The pink-haired girl smiled and hurried into the surgery room. The Hokage was already giving the first aid to the two patients. "Sakura! I need you! Help me with Sasuke." Sakura walked towards the bed and couldn't help but admire the raven-haired shinobi. _'He's even more handsome than in my memories.' _And, without anymore thought, the operation started. It wouldn't be useful to describe the whole operation on the boy. Of course, some moments were more dangerous than others, some more stressful than others but hours later, the two great medical ninjas were proud of their work. I will also not tell you about the second operation done on the blond ninja because it would be unnecessary, boring and most of all because it was successful like the first one.

Days later, the two former teammates and best friend got out of the hospital. Naruto had only one though in mind: finally, he was able to eat some ramen in Ichiraku. Sakura was waiting for them there and he just knew he was going to enjoy his afternoon. The other boy, Sasuke, was thinking of this new part of his life. Sure, he was happy to be in a proper village, a house, but his hate of the village was still here. He couldn't do anything now, not with the bunch of ANBU following him all around the village night and day, but maybe, one day, he would be able to avenge his clan. Oh, he would not destroy the entire village or kill a lot of people, he had realized this type of vengeance was useless, but he had an idea in mind, a terrible idea.

"Hey guys, how are you?" Sakura was waving at them from the restaurant.

"Hi Sakura-chan. We're fine, how about you?"

"Yeah, fine," answered Sasuke.

'_Still talking a lot I see,'_ thought Naruto.

"I'm fine. So what do you want to eat?" They all ordered their food and started chatting.

"So, Sasuke, what are you going to do now? Even if you can't be a ninja right now, there's surely something you would want to do, isn't it?"

"Sure."

"And what's that?" Sakura felt the need to push the discussion or she knew there would be no discussion at all. _'He's still the same mysterious guy, I love it!'_

Naruto was also thinking about Sasuke, but not in the same terms: '_He's still the same jerk he was. Even more maybe, well, at least as he was at the academy. It seems all the time we spent together doesn't count.' _

"I'm thinking about training a lot for when I'll be a shinobi again."

"That's so cool Sasuke-kun."

Naruto was looking down in his bowl. _'And Sakura is becoming again the fan girl. What is happening? I know a while ago, if she had seen me like this, so down, she would have talked to me to make me feel better. But today, she's just looking at stupid Sasuke. I shouldn't have brought him back… but I did it for her. I would do anything if it makes her happy.'_ Naruto looked one more at Sakura who was smiling again. He hoped she will stop him but as he said he was going, he just received a:

"Bye Naruto"

"Bye dupe."

And that was it.

___

It has been two days since the former team 7 had shared their lunch. Since that day, Sakura hadn't talked to Naruto, not even during training. She had instead spent all her days searching for Sasuke, talking to Sasuke, dreaming of Sasuke. All her life was once again turned towards Sasuke. Ino, who had been a fan girl like Sakura was, had succeeded in forgetting or more getting over this part of her life. Of course, she was happy to see him again, but just as a friend. When Ino and Sakura had a talk about him, he didn't turn out well:

"So, what about Sasuke?" Ino asked as calmly as she could.

"What about him?"

"Well, you've been a lot with him lately, is something going on?"

"What? NO! I would like to but…"

"You would what??? You still care about him?"

"Isn't it obvious? He's still handsome and mysterious and strong and all…"

"So you're telling me you didn't grow up at all during all these years? You still think like that? I'm so disappointed… Can't you see what really matters?"

"It is you who is disappointing me! How can you say that?"

"He's a traitor, he has hurt everybody I care and you should care about and…"

"A traitor, you…"

"YES! And you disgust me!" Ino left Sakura's house and Sakura stood there for a few minutes, wondering why Ino was acting like this. _'She's jealous, that's all.'_ And Sakura went on with her day, pretending the feeling of hurt in her heart was not there.

___

"Hey Sakura, what's up?" Naruto wanted them to be like it had always been. He had came to her place in the morning to pick her up like he did before and when she opened the door, he stood in front of her, grinning.

"Nothing really. Why are you here?"

He looked at her with sadness in his eyes, "I'm here to pick you up, like always," hoping she would by miracle actually remember.

"Oh…" She didn't catch the disappointed look on Naruto's face and smiled back at him. "Don't worry about that anymore, Sasuke-kun is coming every morning now. You can save yourself more time to sleep!"

"He… what?"

"Come on, you just did that because he was not here."

"NO! I did it because… because…"

"Because of what?"

"Because I thought we were friends, that we cared about each other."

"Don't say that, of course you're my friend… but Sasuke is back, so I'm spending more time with him, to, I'd say, catch up with him."

"But why are you pushing me away?"

"I'm not…"

"Yes, you…"

"There he is!"

Sasuke was indeed coming towards them with absolutely no way of knowing what he was thinking by the look of his face. "Hi Sakura, we're going."

"I'm coming, I'm ready." She jumped out of the doorway and took Sasuke's arm. "You look stunning today Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke turned his head to see Naruto with tears in his eyes. He passed his arm around Sakura's shoulder, leaned his head towards her and smiled a devilish smile. "I sure am."

___

**AN: I hope you enjoyed this first chapter. If you did, and even if you didn't, please REVIEW!!! Thanks a lot. I will answer every review…**


	2. 1 Chapter 2

**AN: This is the second chapter, hope you will like it.**

**To answer SilverX question, Naruto is going to do both… You'll see, it's possible! Anyway, I think this chapter will kind of answer your question. Thanks for reviewing.**

**Thanks a lot for all the review. Thanks also to those you added me on their alert/favorite list but this time could you please review? I really need to know what you think of the chapter. Thanks again!**

**___ **

"I don't have time for you Naruto!" One more sentence that hurt him greatly. It was like that. She would just make up new excuses to shoo him away every day. One day, it was because she was shopping with her friends and it was girls only, but he then learned Sasuke had surprisingly run into them. Another day, she would have to train with Tsunade, but Sasuke was always near. She even had told him she was tired and going to sleep. Unfortunately, he had seen her 20 minutes later in a restaurant with always the same guy. And it was slowly but surely getting on Naruto's edge. So, he had decided to stop wanting to be with her. What good could come from daily rejection? Of course, it would hurt at first because he couldn't be away from her but he hoped he will be able to get over it.

It was lunch time and he was going to Ichiraku ramen. As he was walking, he raised his eyes and stopped moving when he saw her. She was eating with Sasuke and Shikamaru. He quickly went in an alley nearby thinking what he was going to do. _'Would Sakura talked to me if I was different? Maybe if I was… that's it! I could transform into a girl… Use my sexy no jutsu.' _Naruto was starting to like this idea. _'I could transform into a girl, yeah! That's great… Maybe she would talk to me like that. It's stupid… but being away from her is too hurtful. I know she hurts me too… but sShould I try it? Just to see?'_ Naruto had always been a determined ninja. Since he was small, he wanted desperately to become Hokage, and nothing will stand in his way because this dream was important to him. If he could compare, he would say Sakura was as or even more important. That's why he could not get over her just because she was rejecting him. _'I know she can be different from what she is now, even if she has no excuse for being that way.' _Not wanting to waste anymore time, he transformed. The girl was a little but different from his usual sexy no jutsu. This one was not naked of course, her hair was in a ponytail and was light brown. She was a little smaller and had grey eyes.

"Hello!"

When Naruto arrived at Ichiraku, only Sakura and Shikamaru were still there.

"Hi, who are you?" Sakura asked friendly. _'She hadn't talked to me like that for a long time… It's actually nice'_

"I'm… I'm… hum… Ayame."

"I never saw you around here, where are you from?"

"I…" Naruto was beginning to panic. He looked around him until his eyes met Shikamaru's. "I'm from Suna!" he proudly announced, remembering Shikamaru was going out with Temari.

"Oh ok, then you should know Temari right?"

"Well, I don't know her personally but of course I know the Kazekage's sister!"

"Come sit with us." Sakura offered. "My name is Sakura and this is Shikamaru," she lowered her voice so that only Ayame could hear, "and my soon-to-be boyfriend was just here a moment ago but he's coming back." Naruto laughed an awkward laugh but inside his heart was breaking into pieces. _'She will be going out with Sasuke…'_ "Ayame…" Naruto looked up to see a smiling Sasuke, and that in itself was strongly disconcerting, "this is Sasuke-kun."

"Hi Sasuke."

"Hello, what's your name again… oh yes, Ayame. Nice to meet you."

'_What is happening to him, he suddenly talks just like that… it doesn't sound good. Never mind for now, let's enjoy some time with Sakura-chan!'_ "So, can I stay with you this afternoon?"

"Sure, we're going to Shikamaru's and Ino will be there. One more person is always welcome…"

'_I bet Naruto wouldn't be…'_ "Okay, sounds fun. Who's Ino?"

"She's just my ex best friend." Naruto looked at Sakura surprised: she couldn't know it was surprise but instead she saw incomprehension, "we had this fight days ago, she's jealous of me," she said her tone lowering. Doubt came again as she remembered her friends words "Can't you see what really matters?" How Ino could say something like that. Was she really acting badly? Was she doing something she shouldn't? She didn't know where it was coming from, but this girl Ayame was making her feel so good. She hadn't felt this way since… since Sasuke had come back. Sakura looked at the raven haired boy and tried to search for something missing. Yes, something was definitely missing, but what?

"Come on Sakura, we're going!" Shikamaru was calling her. Ayame was still next to her, waiting.

"Come Ayame, they wouldn't wait for us girls."

___

'_Why am I doing this? Why am I disguising myself as a girl to be around Sakura? Am I not supposed to be mad at her? Of course I am, but I'm so happy to see her without her yelling at me…'_ He, or more she, as Ayame, was looking at Sakura again. _'I'm so confused.'_

"So Ayame, why are you in Konoha?" Ino asked, curious like always.

"I'm here on… holidays."

"Holidays? And why did you chose Konoha?"

"I don't know, just because it's different from Suna I guess." Naruto swallowed, hoping someone would buy that, but apparently it was enough for Ino.

"Oh ok. I hope you will enjoy your holidays… if you stay with us, there will be no problem. I know a guy, OUR friend," Ino insisted on the word as she looked around her, "he's not here today, but he's really funny and WE love to go out with him." Naruto was a little bit lost here and was looking at Ino with big round eyes. Ino continued: "His name is Naruto and this girl here is not talking to him, who knows why. Whatever, you can come tomorrow to shop with me if you want. Maybe Sakura will have the kindness to come." _'Me? Shopping? I don't think it's a very good idea…'_

"Okay, I'll come" _'Why did I answer that again?'_

"Cool."

Sakura was looking at Ino angrily. "Sure I'll come if Ayame's coming. I like her a lot. For tonight, you can sleep at my place if you want Ayame."

Nobody understood why Ayame started suddenly to become redder and redder.

"Are you okay?"

Naruto swallowed hard and tried to focus as images of Sakura in her room at night started to pass in front of his eyes. "I… I… d… don't th… think I can… really. I have alre… already a ho..hotel for the night," he managed to choke out.

"Never mind, it's okay." The disappointed look on Sakura's face was visible for everybody but no one could really understand it. _'How come I care so much about a girl I just met. It's like there is something about her more profound, but I can't put my finger on what it is.' _

Several hours passed, with Ayame becoming friends with absolutely everyone except a certain raven-haired boy who didn't seem to care about her. They all decided to watch a movie but nobody really cared about the film they were going to watch. Shikamaru was going to think about his girlfriend anyway, imagining her to be there. Ino was going to think of a way to make Sakura realized she was making a mistake but Ino knew deep inside her there would be no way of getting Sakura to understand except when she will have done the mistake. Sasuke was always, not only during this night, thinking of how his plan was going to work. Naruto was just going to look at Sakura the entire movie because he couldn't think of a better way to spend his time. Sakura had more complicated things to think about during the movie. She was trying to find why it felt that something important was missing with Sasuke. Was it something he wasn't? She was also thinking about Ayame and how she thought she had seen her somewhere already. But most of all, because of Ino, Sakura was thinking a bit about Naruto. It was true she didn't talk to him anymore but she acted that way before Sasuke left and there was no problem then. Maybe she would need to be more friendly with him? But her thoughts didn't go much further. It was the end of the film and they decided it was time to go back home.

"We're going Sakura."

"Coming Sasuke-kun."

They both got out, said goodbye and walked to Sakura's house where Sasuke decided it was time for the first part of his evil plan to begin. They were near the door and Sakura was searching for her keys. They was no wind and no sound besides their breathing. Sasuke was waiting for the right time. When she lifted her head, Sasuke laid a small kiss on Sakura's lips. She was taken by surprise and for a time, she pushed him away. But then, when she realized what was happening, she smiled and thought that the moment she had been waiting for all her life had finally happened. Sasuke asked her the question she had be waiting for and one kiss and a few words later, they were boyfriend and girlfriend… Sakura closed the door behind her and smiled again, _'I'm so happy!' _Doubt came and Sakura frowned._ 'I'm happy, I should be._' She sighed._ 'I'm happy right?'_

___

**AN: End of chapter 2, hope you liked it. **

**Please REVIEW! I will answer, if I can, all of your questions…**


	3. 1 Chapter 3

**AN: There is the third chapter! Hope you will like it!**

**Thanks a lot to all those who reviewed, it means a lot to me. Thanks again and keep on reviewing!**

___

She was sleeping in a not so peaceful sleep when the alarm rang. She cursed under her breath but got up anyway and headed for the bathroom. As opposed at most of the girl her age, Sakura didn't pass a whole hour in it. She just needed to comb her hair, put her headband on, dress up and she was ready. She then went down to grab something to eat but to her surprise, the refrigerator was empty. _'Crap, I forgot to go shopping for food. I'll do it with Ino and Ayame this afternoon.' _Thinking of where she could go, she finally decided on going to the most famous restaurant in town, thanks to Naruto: Ichiraku ramen. _'Maybe Naruto will be there, I should try to talk to him. Ino has been so insistent, I guess she's right. I just acted the way I did back when we were little, but I did change during all these years. Naruto is my friend, why should I not talk to him? Why would I listen to Sasuke? After all, even if I love him, Naruto is my friend too. I'm so stupid… I should have told him why Sasuke was coming to pick me up every morning now, that he really insisted… and that I didn't know it would upset Naruto that much… I hope he will be there.'_

Like every other morning, Naruto was at Ichiraku eating his first bowl of ramen of the day, enjoying it way more than the ten or twenty bowls he will eat during the day. To his surprise, as he was almost finishing his bowl, he saw Sakura coming his way, with nobody with her. _'Well, that's a first! She's not following her master Sasuke…' _Naruto, already startled, was even more taken by surprise when she talked to him.

"Hi Naruto. How are you doing?"

'_Two sentences… that must have been hard for her. Why is she talking to me? Doesn't she have something more useful to do? Or maybe she's feeling sorry? No, it's no use to dream.'_ Naruto continued to eat his ramen while Sakura was trying to talk to him. _'She doesn't like me as Naruto, I know it. The only way I can really pass some good time with her is being Ayame.'_

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"I…"

"Oh ok, bye Sakura."

And Naruto left, thinking it was better not to try to fix their relationship. But, really deep inside of him, he knew that wasn't the way to do things. He was just avoiding the real problem. Passing time with Sakura while being a girl was fun but how long could it last? He couldn't mask his love for her by changing into a girl. Their relation was so complicated, he couldn't just ignore it... It was based on love, friendship but also despair when Sasuke had left, and that's why they would have to work hard together to make it work. But this time, as most people do, Naruto chose the easiest and less hurtful way to be with her.

___

Naruto was headed, as Ayame, towards the meeting point. Ino and Sakura were already waiting for him there. The girls were ready for a girly and uneventful afternoon but that was without counting Ayame's presence.

"Hi Ino, Hi Sakura."

"Hi Ayame." Both girls answered at the same time. "You're ready?"

"I'm not really used to shopping, I don't like it a lot, so don't be surprised." _'Is it even possible that a girl doesn't like to shop? This excuse is so stupid… But,' _he thought while looking at Sakura,_ 'it's worth a try.'_

"Well, you're going to die with me, I'm the queen of shopping," announced Ino proudly.

"Don't listen to her, she's just obsessed about shopping, but she's nice otherwise," said Sakura to Ayame and smiling to Ino. "She's really a good friend, I just realized that," she whispered, "but don't tell her…"

"Sure." Naruto, no, Ayame, grinned. _'I feel like a completely different person. Maybe it's because our past is no here between us, it's just a normal friendship…'_

"Well, let's go." Ino was quite in a hurry.

"Oh, I forgot," said Sakura, "I need to go food shopping also, we'll do it at the end."

Ino sighed. "Fine."

The three, well, more two of them, were looking in every shops, finding everything "cute" and wanting to try the most possible outfits. Naruto was more here to help them find their size than anything else, but he found it fun to see a side of Sakura and Ino he had never seen. Choosing a tee-shirt was far more difficult than he imagined… They passed hours in three shops and Naruto couldn't take it anymore. _'They always say I have an incredible stamina, but I can't keep up with those two when they are shopping. I can believe they are still walking.'_ Naruto had tried in vain to find an excuse to stop this torture but the girls hadn't believed him and he was stuck with them. He even thought about creating a shadow clone but he just couldn't find an opportunity to do it.

"So where are we going now?" asked Ayame, nearly dead.

"To the underwear section."

"WHAT?"

"Come on, it will be fun…"

'_Oh no, not fun… I'm not a trained pervert like Jiraiya, I can't stand this. Don't panic Naruto, you just have to wait until they are finished. Don't look and there's nothing to fear.'_

They entered the shop and Naruto directly went to sit at the far end, near the fitting rooms, and that was a very very bad idea, but he didn't know that yet… For now, Sakura and Ino were looking at the underwear and laughing, trying to find something they could wear. After some time, they were both trying on, near Naruto who was controlling himself from running out of the shop and never seeing them again. But he sat there, waiting. Suddenly, Sakura called him:

"Ayame! Could you please help me? I can't clip out the bra."

Naruto was already red like a tomato. "Hum, can't Ino do it? I'm… hum…busy."

"I can't come out! I'm not really dressed up," shouted Ino from her fitting room.

"Well, try harder, I'm sure you can do it Sakura," tried Naruto.

"Ayame! Come here… You're a girl, there's no way to be embarrassed!"

'_You could say that again…'_ muttered Naruto under his breath. "Coming." What he saw was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. Sakura had her back facing him. He just couldn't let his eyes off her. He slowly moved forward his hand and clipped out the back of the bra. She turned around, her bra still on, and Ayame rushed out of the fitting room, her nose beginning to bleed. Naruto quickly wiped out the blood and came back like nothing happened. They paid for their purchases and exited the shop.

"So what do we do now?" asked Ino. "Do you want to go to the baths?"

'_They are crazy… they really want me to die or what? There's no way I'm going there or I'm going to have a heart attack.'_ "I'm really sorry but I have to go. I still have things to do today."

"That's okay, you can do your things later…" Ino answered.

'_Come on, someone please help me.'_

"Ino, I think we shouldn't go. I still have my shopping to do if I want to eat, so why not stop here. We can see Ayame tomorrow."

'_Thank you…'_ "Yes, it's a very good idea."

"Okay, fine," said Ino pouting.

___

Once again, we could find Naruto, as Naruto, eating at Ichiraku. Because of the shopping, he couldn't eat ramen at lunch so he was catching up by eating twice as much. He had in front of him his 7th bowl of ramen when Sasuke arrived.

"Hi."

'_After the girlfriend the morning, I have the boyfriend at night, just great. Even if I did pass more time with the girlfriend during the afternoon…' _"Hi."

"So, how are you doing?"

"I'm great and you?"

Sasuke was taken off guard. Naruto was great? What did that mean? Wasn't he supposed to be down? Sakura wasn't talking to him after all…

"I'm… fine. With Sakura as a girlfriend…" Naruto tensed a bit and Sasuke smirked as he got the reaction he hoped for. "Everything is perfect."

"I don't care about you or her."

"Yeah, sure."

"Why am I talking to you anyway? I have to go, I'm meeting Shikamaru and Kiba for some boy time… I really need it after…"

"After what?"

"Nothing…" Naruto blushed and ran away.

'_What's with him? He doesn't seem that affected by Sakura's behavior… I wonder if telling her to be distant with Naruto is really paying off. Maybe she's not doing what I tell her to do. Is she really never with him? If she doesn't act the way I want to, I will have to use my sharingan on her. That way, I'll be sure to cut her relationship with the baka. And then, it will be possible to use really use her like I intend to do.'_

___

**AN: Hope you liked it.**

**Like always… REVIEW!**


	4. 1 Chapter 4

**AN: Thanks again to all of those who reviewed!! **

**So, there's the fourth chapter… Hope you'll enjoy it.**

___

_Flashback_

"Hi Naruto. How are you doing?"

"…"

"Naruto?"

"…"

"NARUTO!"

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"I…"

"Oh ok, bye Sakura."

Sakura was left alone at Ichiraku and that was the first time she really realized what she had been doing to Naruto. She was doing what he had just done to her: ignoring her completely. _'How could I be such a b*tch? And all of that just because Sasuke told me too? But why? Why would he want me to ignore Naruto? Is he jealous? But that doesn't justify all the things that I've done. Why did I listen to him? I'm so stupid… stupid love for a stupid guy! And I'm not even happy going out with him… It feels like there's nothing between us: no love, no secrets, no complicity, nothing… just the words we said days ago. Something big is missing but what? Why can't it be perfect? Why can't I be happy?'_

And Sakura got up and went on with her day, shopping with Ino and Ayame, food shopping after that and got home. She ate, bathed, and slept with one only thought: _'I have to talk to Sasuke.'_

_End of flashback_

Sakura was in front of Sasuke's house with her thought always on her mind. She rang the doorbell and minutes later, Sasuke stood in front of her, half-naked and his hair messed up, wanting to impress her. Seeing her eyes opening, he just knew he had a strong effect on her.

'_What… a… scary sight. Yuck. I would have never imagined his body to be so dull… I always thought it was going to be perfect. And his hair… trying to be cool or sexy or whatever… it's nothing compared to Naruto's messy hair! Naruto? Oh yeah, I need to talk to Sasuke, I almost forgot…'_

'_She's so impressed, she cannot talk. I'm sure she even forgot why she came here… my beauty must have amazed her. My plan is working perfectly.'_

Sakura closed her eyes and shook her head to make the image disappear. "Hi Sasuke. I want to talk to you."

"Yes?"

"About Naruto…"

'_What is that supposed to mean?'_ "Come in." _'If I have to use it on her… I will.'_

"and about us."

'_That's better.' _"What is it?"

"I don't know exactly, but something is wrong between us." Sakura was looking down at the floor, embarrassed.

"What?"

"I told you… I don't…"

"No, I didn't mean it that way… Why do you think that?"

"Well, I'm not fully happy with you. Something's missing. I don't know what but I know it's not there. And I don't understand why you won't let me talk to Naruto. He's my best friend!" Sakura was almost yelling now.

"I have my reasons…"

"Yes, of course… but don't you think that I have a right to know? I'm the one ruining my relationship with him and why? Because you have 'your reasons'… I'm not going to continue if you don't give me one good reason. Actually, I don't think I'm going to continue at all, even if you want me too. I love him as much as I love you. Maybe in different ways, but I love him all the same. And I'm not going to choose between him and you. I have already ruined my friendship with him but maybe, hopefully, I would be able to mend it." _'It's going to be difficult, maybe impossible, but I will do everything I can.'_

"You…" His eyes turned red.

"What? You're going to attack me? Use your sharingan on me maybe? I don't think so. I'm going." She turned around, quickly enough so that Sasuke won't have the time to do anything with his sharingan. And without looking at him, she said: "I'm going out with Ino, Hinata, Kiba, Choji and Ayame tonight."

"Her again?" His eyes had turned normal.

"Why? Jealous of a girl now?"

"NO! I just have a weird feeling, like she's hiding something."

"You always think everybody is hiding something… but everybody is not like you. You hide something from me, that's sure, but Ayame has nothing to hide, she's just my friend."

"Sure."

In one second, Sakura's fist was glowing with chakra and she was holding it an inch from Sasuke's face. Sasuke swallowed, knowing a punch like that could kill him instantly. "Don't say anything bad about her or…" Sakura glared at Sasuke, her eyes glowing with anger. She removed her hand, stepped back and was out of the house before Sasuke was able to let out the breath he was holding.

'_I don't know why I protect her like that, but she's got something, I just need to know she's safe… it's just like what I feel about Naruto. Knowing he's okay is enough for me...' _Sakura sighed and walked home.

___

"Hi Temari."

"Oh, hi Sasuke. What are you doing here? You want to talk to Shikamaru? I can call him…"

"No, in fact, I've come to talk to you."

"Really? What about?"

"You know, the new girl… Ayame?" asked Sasuke as innocently as he could, "do you know her?"

"Why should I…? Oh yes, that's right, she's from Suna, yes?"

"Yes."

"No, I don't know anyone who's named Ayame."

"That's interesting…"

"But I don't know everybody in Suna… It's possible I've never met her."

"… Ok thanks, I got to go." And Sasuke was off.

'_That was strange… What is he up to?'_

"Who was that?"

"Just Sasuke!" Temari shouted to Shikamaru.

"Uh… Troublesome."

___

Sakura was preparing herself for her night out. Sasuke had called her, told her he was sorry but she didn't buy it and he said he come pick her up. She wasn't really happy about it because she wanted to have some good time, not thinking about him but he insisted and she finally accepted. Looking in the mirror, she saw her reflection. It was a different girl than she normally saw: that one didn't seem content, didn't seem to happily live... Sakura chose a white skirt that flew around when she moved and a red top to go with. She was fixing her headband when her doorbell rang. She shouted she was coming, took her bag and ran down the stairs to open the door. Sasuke was standing there, and for the first time in a long time, she was actually disappointed it was not Naruto, grinning, who was waiting for her. She could imagine him, smiling, his hands behind his hair, just being happy to be there for her... And she missed that sight. Unfortunately, she knew she wasn't going to see what she wanted before a very very long time.

"Hi Sasuke."

"Hi."

They walked in silence to the place that was just two blocks down. They entered the building together and went up to the second floor where they were supposed to meet everybody. Sakura opened the door and saw that almost everybody was already there. At the bar, Ino, Temari and Shikamaru were talking about who-knows-what but Ino seemed to have a strong opinion on the subject as she was yelling that in NO WAY she would do that. On the other side, Kiba, Choji, Hinata and Naruto were laughing. Sakura's heart twitched a bit and she looked away. In a corner, TenTen, Neji and Lee were drinking and talking. Sakura quickly made her way to the bar and seated next to Ino. Sasuke seated next to her and they ordered drinks.

"Ayame is still not here?" asked Sakura to Ino.

"No, I didn't see her."

Naruto had stopped talking with the rest of the group and was looking at Sakura the more discreetly he could manage. When he had seen her arrive, his heart had skipped a beat. She looked adorable in her flying white skirt. But he could also see the sad and disappointed look on her face. What is because he was here and she didn't want him to be here? But when she asked Ino her question, he thought he had understood her look: it was because Ayame was not here. Without wasting any more time, Naruto got up, went to a nearby room where nobody could see him and changed into Ayame.

"Hi Sakura, hi Ino."

"Hey! Ayame, come!"

Ayame sat near her two friend and they chatted during a few minutes. Naruto could still see the sadness in Sakura's eyes even if she was trying to hide it now._ 'What's with Sakura? She didn't change when she saw Ayame. Is something else going on? Has Sasuke done something to her? I'm going to kill him if he made her cry!' _

"Are you okay Sakura?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she smiled a fake smile and Naruto saw through it.

'_No you're not, and it doesn't feel good.'_ Naruto lifted his eyes to encounter Sasuke's. His look scared the hell out Naruto. _'Why he is looking at Ayame that way? Is he suspecting something?' _Thinking, Naruto heard Hinata ask Kiba:

"Where is Naruto? He got up minutes ago and he has still not come back. Should I go look for him?"

Naruto understood he could not stay as Ayame the whole night so he excused himself to Ino and Sakura: "I have to go somewhere. I'll be back."

"Okay."

Naruto went quickly to change back and appeared as Naruto just before Hinata could stand.

"There you are! I was going to look for you. Where were you?"

"You know... around." Naruto sat and felt Sasuke glaring at him again. _'I'm sure he knows... Otherwise, why would he be looking at me? And even if he's not, someone is surely going to notice that when I'm not here, Ayame is and vice versa...' _He tried to smile and laugh at Kiba's joke but without much success: he could only think of how it was going to be difficult to survive through this very long night.

___

**AN: Next chapter... The very long night! :p  
Please... REVIEW !! Any comments or questions are welcomed.**


	5. 1 Chapter 5

**AN: Since so many of those who reviewed said I should make Naruto use a clone… he will :D I confess I absolutely didn't think about it before but it's actually a very good idea so thanks a lot!  
Thank you also to all who reviewed.  
And now, here is chapter 5…**  
___

It had only been half an hour and Naruto was already tired. He was constantly changing and looking around to see if somebody was noticing something. Fortunately for him, Lee and Kiba were already too drunk to be possibly thinking about that. Neji and TenTen were quite busy flirting so Naruto was not paying attention to them. Choji was eating. Shikamaru, Temari, Ino and Sakura were chatting and not looking in Naruto's direction. At the end, Naruto knew that he had to watch only two people: the only two possible threats were Hinata that constantly wondered where Naruto was going and Sasuke that was looking at him strangely. Actually, Sasuke was thinking about Naruto and Ayame. But what Naruto didn't know is that Sasuke wasn't exactly suspecting anything. He was just wondering why Sakura could like these two persons.

'_What does she like in Naruto?'_ Sasuke thought while looking at him. _'He's just a stupid, loudmouthed, blond brat.'_... _'Why does she like her?'_ he thought when Ayame was here. _'She's just the average girl with no brain.'_

Naruto had finished transforming back into Naruto and sat at his table next to a drunk Kiba. In front of him was Hinata. _'If I want any suspicion to stop, there should be Ayame and Naruto together, in the same room at the same time... How could I be in two different places at the same time? It's like looking left and looking right at the same time, it's impossible right?'_ And then it struck him. It was like when he was learning to put the wind element in his rasengan. Kakashi had showed him that with the kagebunshin, he could look right and left at the same time. _'That's it! If I make a clone, one will be me and the other one will be Ayame. I'm so intelligent!'_ And so he did it. One last time he got up and went to another room. There he made his clone and he transformed it in Ayame. They entered the room at the same time and he saw Sasuke frowned. _'Those two know each other? Then it's almost natural Sakura likes Ayame...'_ Naruto smiled inside: _'You're surprised? I hoped so...' _Naruto went back to sit with Kiba and Hinata. Everything seemed to be doing okay. Sakura was finally laughing with Ayame. Sasuke was looking at nobody in particular... The evening could finally start and Naruto thought he was going to enjoy it. But, like so many times, the events would not happen like it was planned.

___

It has been a year since Hinata has stopped loving Naruto. Well, it's not entirely true... It has been a year since she realized she was not in love with him. She had always admired him and loved him in a friendly way but that was all. Now that she knew she didn't love, she had no problem talking to him and being around him. In fact, she was teasing him a lot about Sakura. She could see that something was going on and didn't want to push things but still liked to annoy him. But these days, she was not doing it anymore. Naruto was a first happy about it but he slowly understood that she had seen the way Sakura was treating him and she couldn't tease him about that. Hinata was indeed worried about the pink haired girl's behaviour. She thought at first it was just because Sasuke had just come back and therefore she spent more time with him but now, she couldn't understand at all what she was doing. Seeing Naruto so down at first, she wanted to help him. But he had been better these last few days and she was very surprised about it: Naruto loved Sakura more than anything else and to be not so touched by her behaviour, she just knew something she couldn't see was going on. That's why from the beginning of the evening, she had turned on her byakugan but so discreetly that it was almost impossible to see it. Soon, she saw that under Ayame's body was Naruto's chakra. She tried several time to talk to him but he was constantly changing. Then, he had made a clone and she checked one last time to see if Ayame was really Naruto.

"HINATA!"

She turned around to see Naruto, scared. He took her arm and they went in the corridor.

"What is it? Why did you take my arm?"

"You know, don't you?"

"Know what? I don't know what you're talking about..."

"About Ayame."

Hinata was never a girl who could lie and Naruto saw directly by her face that in fact she knew.

"I..."

"I saw you turn on your byakugan on Ayame so I figured out you knew. Please don't tell anyone. Please. I need her."

Hinata didn't have to ask who was the 'her'. One could think it was Ayame but she knew that Naruto wasn't talking about the fact that he needed Ayame to talk to Sakura. No... She knew he was talking about Sakura: he couldn't live without her and he would do anything, even changing into a girl, to be with the one he loved so much.

"I won't"

"Thank you..." Their head were so close they could feel each other breaths. But they both knew they were just friends and it was not, as everybody could think if they saw them, an awkward moment. Hinata was slowly but surely falling in love with Kiba and Naruto loved Sakura... They stayed a few seconds like that until they heard a gasp. They both turned their head and saw Sakura, tears in her eyes.

___

Since the beginning of the night, Sakura was sitting next to Ayame and Ino. They were chatting, laughing, planning the week... At some point during the night, Sakura suddenly wanted to go to the bathroom. She could have gone sooner or later but she went at this precise moment when it would mean discovering something of a great importance in her life. In fact, if she hadn't done her little trip to the toilet, the three years ahead of her would probably be very different and maybe happier. But she did make this trip and she did saw Naruto next to Hinata. Why did it upset her so much? She couldn't understand at first. But a few hours later, it was as clear as light: she was jealous. _'Why I am jealous like that? Naruto has the right to do whatever he wants. I have been so hard on him, it's normal he wants to see other girls. He probably doesn't like me anymore. I know he had this crush on me when we were small but I never paid attention and always thought it was not real love... Guess I was right.'_ And when she thought that, her heart ached a lot. _'But why does it upset me so much?? If Naruto is really a good friend, I shouldn't feel that way... I...' _Her thoughts were interrupted by Sasuke.

"Are we going soon?"

"I don't know... Ayame and Ino don't seem to want so I'm going to stay with them."

"Come on, you don't want to be with your boyfriend? You prefer to stay with the girls?" asked Sasuke who clearly didn't like Ayame.

Sakura didn't answer at first, not wanting to make a scene in front of everyone, but she quickly understood it was best for her to do so. "Yes, I prefer to stay with the girls. Actually, I don't think this all boyfriend-girlfriend thing is going to work between us..."

"WHAT?"

"I told you..." Everyone was now looking at them. "Something is wrong. It's better to stop now before it's too late."

Sasuke was shaking with anger and Sakura tried not to fear him but as the anger rose within Sasuke, Sakura was glad she had broken up with him in front of all of her friends. Who knows what he would have been able to do if they were alone... Sasuke finally spoke: "Okay then, your choice. I just hope you will not regret it."

"How could I?"

"You don't know just yet... but you will regret it, trust me..."

Sasuke looked around the place to see all his friends looking at him with fear. _'Yes... fear me. And especially you Naruto.'_ He smiled, opened the door and left.

___

The night had really been a long night, thought Sakura when she was at home. A few minutes after Sasuke's departure, everyone had slowly begun to leave and head home. Sakura was one of the few who stayed behind a bit with Ino but they were home not long after the others. Sakura had taken a shower to cool down after all that had happened that night and try to forget about it. But one thought was constantly coming back in her head, like it was trying to prove something to her. _'Why am I jealous? Do I care about Naruto in a way I didn't know?'_ Alone in her room, she blushed a little. _'Is it possible that I am falling for my blond teammate?'_ She shook the thought away at first but the answer came on her own, when she was curled under her blanket in her bed, just before sleep engulfed her. _'Of course not. It's not possible that I'm falling for him now... because I've fallen in love with him a long time ago. I've loved him for years without being aware of it: it was so natural and obvious that I didn't see it.' _And even if things could have been more hopeful, Sakura smiled because she finally knew something that would never change: she loved Naruto.

___

**AN: Hope you liked the chapter... and please REVIEW !**


	6. 1 Chapter 6

**AN: Thanks a lot to those who reviewed the last chapter.  
I'm sorry this update took a bit longer than the other ones, I had a rough week at school, lots of tests so I couldn't write… But it has only been a week since my last update so it's not so long… :p  
There is the sixth chapter, hope you will enjoy it!  
**___

Sasuke had always been an observant guy. When he was a kid, he could see things most of the kids his age couldn't. Relations between adults, relation between children, the little flaws of everyone... That's why, when Ayame had appeared, he knew directly there was something strange about her, without really being able to find what. He just thought she was acting as she was trying to hide something but it was very hard to tell what exactly. Then, he had seen this strange attraction Sakura had for this girl and it continued to bug him. Finally, when Temari had said she didn't know anyone named Ayame, he was sure the girl was not who she said she was but Sasuke was far from thinking it was actually Naruto. Sasuke had been in training ground 4 for a few hours now. He knew the other trainings grounds were taken but he didn't know by whom... in fact, he didn't care as long as he was able to train in peace. At some point in the middle of his training, he recognized Naruto's jutsu and knew that he was nearby but once again, he didn't care. His training continued until he heard, because, unfortunately, Naruto is not a very quiet person: "Training over, I'm going to see Sakura."  
'_See Sakura? I thought these two were not seeing each other, or Sakura lied to me. I told her not to talk to him. If they are still friends, my plan is definitely NOT going to work. I need him to be as far away as possible. I should follow him to see where they are meeting and maybe I can stop these meetings from happening...'_ And so Sasuke followed Naruto during a few minutes until Naruto went in an alley. Sasuke watched from afar and had the happy surprise to see Naruto transforming into Ayame and going to Ichiraku where he met Sakura. _'That's interesting. I would have never thought of that. I don't think Sakura know... if she knew, she wouldn't have talked about her too much, not wanting to put any suspicion. No, Naruto is doing this on its own. And that's even more interesting...' _Sasuke smiled one of his evil smiles. _'My new ninjutsu is almost complete... I should go train more...'_

___

Naruto woke up, took a quick shower, dressed up in orange and went to the training grounds. He wanted to train for his rasen shuriken. He sat in the middle of the training ground, as far as he could from noise because he needed a lot of concentration to perform this jutsu. As he tried to concentrate, his mind started to wonder. _'Why was she crying? Not crying, but she had tears in her eyes, why? Was she already upset because of Sasuke or was it because she saw me with Hinata? Was she upset? But why would she be? I don't understand... Maybe it was just my imagination...'_ Naruto tried to stop the thoughts from entering in his head but they just couldn't stop. _'And why did she dump Sasuke all of a sudden? I thought she was happy going out with him. I wonder what happened... Maybe she realized he's just stupid... No, that would be too good.' _Naruto smiled. _'I really want to know why she dumped him...'_  
He stayed in the training ground for a few hours and then noticed it was lunch time already. The day before, Sakura and Ayame had decided to meet for a lunch break so he walked towards Ichiraku. He arrived there as Ayame, after changing in the alley where Sasuke saw him, but of course, Naruto didn't know all this. And he sat down at Ichiraku, waiting for Sakura to come.

"Hey Ayame."

"Hey."

"You've been waiting for a long time?"

"No, just got here."

"Oh okay."

Sakura sat down and ordered something to eat. They chatted a bit, talking about everything and nothing in particular until Naruto started to feel Sakura was hiding something.

"What is it Sakura-chan?"

"Sakura-chan?"

"Oh, sorry, Sakura." _'Am I stupid or what? If I continue like this, she's going to find out it's me.' _"So... is something wrong?"

"No, not really."

"What do you mean, not really? Something is wrong or not...?"

"Well, nothing is wrong, but something is not right."

"You're confusing me..."

"I realized something and..."

"You don't like it!"

"On the contrary! I like it. I love it because it makes so much sense. But, I know it's too late."

"Too late for what?"

"To be forgiven."

"For what? What did you do?"

"I... I... he can't forgive me. I can't speak to him. I've been such a... It's too late. I'm not..." And Sakura burst into tears, not being able to control herself anymore. She had so much pain inside her heart, so much hatred directed towards herself, she couldn't keep it any longer.

"Who are you talking about?"

"The one I realized I'm in love with..."

Naruto heart stopped._ 'She's in love with someone else than Sasuke?'_

"Do I know him?"

"Yes, I think so. You may have seen him last night. But he was not with us. Sasuke and him don't talk much now..."

Ayame wanted badly to know but inside Naruto was hesitant. The curiosity in him took over and he asked the question: "Who is he?"

Sakura blushed: "He's handsome, he's perfect and I'm not good enough for him."

At every word she said, at every smile she smiled, Naruto's heart was torn apart. Who could be this guy she seemed to love so much? Who was he to make her even happier than when she was talking about Sasuke? "Who he is? What's his name?"

"His name? You really want to know who he is?"

"Well yes, why?"

"You'll keep it a secret? You promised you won't tell anyone?"

"I promise."

"And certainly not the guy."

"As I said... I promise I won't tell."

"Okay..." Sakura lowered her voice and it was almost a whisper when she let out: "I'm in love with Naruto."

"..."

"What?"

"..."

"You know who I'm talking about, don't you?"

"..."

"Come on, it's not funny."

"I... I..." Ayame could barely speak. _'Sakura loves me? No... it's not possible... How?'_ "I... okay. Yeah, why not."

Sakura looked at Ayame strangely, noticing something was definitely wrong. "What is it?"

"Oh, nothing. I just remembered I have to do something. I'll see you later okay? Maybe tonight?"

"Okay... See you." And Sakura was left, once again thinking about her blond teammate.

___

'_Sakura... loves... me! Sakura loves ME!' _Naruto was in his house, just after the very happy lunch he had shared with Sakura. When he had learnt that Sakura loves him, he thought she had discovered his secret and that she was making fun of him but he quickly understood that she was serious about her love. He could see it in her eyes, and it was very hard not to kiss her directly. Her eyes were sparkling when she talked about him and Naruto could almost feel her love around him. He had never felt like this before. Nobody had said things like that about him before. It was new for him and he liked it a lot! He started to plan the afternoon and decided to eat with her during dinner. _'I'm sure she'll be at Ichiraku tonight. She's always there. It's like she...'_ Naruto smiled. _'like she wants to be there because it's my favourite place?'_ He grinned again, but not just the smile he smiles all the time, no, it was a true smile of happiness.

The rest of the day passed pretty slowly. Naruto couldn't find something to do so he ended up annoying himself to death during almost half a day. Reading one line of a book, trying to learn a new technique during 5 minutes, eating a quarter of a bowl of ramen, each thing he started to do was interrupted by the excitement of the dinner. He dreamt of Sakura kissing him, of hugging her, of seeing her surprised look when he would transform into Naruto. Yes, he wanted to transform in front of her, because he wanted to see how she would react. And because he decided it was better to start a relationship by telling her what he did. He was a bit stressed she wouldn't like it and she would be annoyed at first but if she loved really him as much as she was showing it, then there would be no problem. Naruto, laying down on his bed, looked at his alarm clock and saw it was time to go. He got up and exited his house. Thousands of possibilities were in his mind about how the dinner was going to be, from romantic to funny, from quiet to talkative...  
But life is not something we can predict, and like every other time, Naruto couldn't begin to imagine what was really going to happen...

___

It had been a whole day of training. Sasuke was exhausted. He had trained hard with different people and at the end of the day, he was very pleased with himself. He had, thanks to his little spying on Naruto, discovered things more than helpful for his sadistic plan. Yes, Sasuke was happy. After Shikamaru had finished training with him, he was alone again, and smiling. As he made his way towards his destination, he couldn't help but think that everything was perfect: his ninjutsu was finally complete, and he could now control everything...

___

**AN: End of chapter 6... The next chapter will be the last of part 1!  
Hope you enjoyed it. Please REVIEW !!**


	7. 1 Chapter 7

**AN: There is the last chapter of part 1.****Thanks a lot to all of those who reviewed, marked me on their favourite/alert list. Continue (or START) to review please! And enjoy this chapter...  
Oh and I realized I didn't put the disclaimer in any of the chapter of this story so there he is...  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.  
(but I think everybody could guess that...)  
**___

Sasuke plan was far from original. He wanted power, revenge and blood. Power to control everything around him and feel free to do anything. Revenge against Konoha who had once ordered his brother to kill his family. And blood because every great bad guy likes blood. He thought of course that his plan was brilliant and he couldn't think that it could be destroyed.  
How would he get the power? By eliminating the ones who would be able to have this power... And for him, that meant eliminating Naruto. How did he want to get his revenge? By rebuilding his clan and that meant using someone as a baby factory. At first, he had thought of Ino but when he came back, she wasn't interested anymore and it was a pain for him to actually charm someone. He finally decided to have Sakura. He didn't like her at all, but she was a good kunoichi and so she would be perfect for the job. He didn't care if she had to be pregnant all the time... he just wanted heirs. Even if Sakura had still something for him, he quickly realized that being with her would be difficult. She wanted him to be the usual boyfriend who actually cares about her, and he was not that at all. She wasn't really the fan girl anymore and he was really not prepared for that. But one problem seemed even more difficult than that to sort out: Naruto was in love with the girl. And if Sasuke started to mistreat her, Naruto would become once more a threat to his plan. That's why, from the start, Sasuke had tried to find a way to get him away from her.  
He had tried telling her not to talk to him but it had turned out that she had dumped him. Apparently, Naruto and Sakura had a much stronger relationship than it could appear. He had tried to get him to don't like Sakura but he was changing himself into a girl to see her. In short, it was impossible to tear them apart. But when he learned who Ayame was, he saw his plan coming back to life. With that and his new jutsu, it would be impossible to fail...

___

"Hi Sakura!"

"Oh, hi Ayame. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine you?"

"I'm good, I'm good... So why did you go so suddenly at lunch?"

"Oh that... there's something I need to tell you. But let order first okay?"

Sakura was very curious but because she was quite polite, she ordered her bowl of ramen and waited until Ayame ordered hers to ask her question. However, Ayame was faster:

"Why do you like so much ramen?"

"Well... it reminds me of Naruto each time I come here. It's his favourite place."

"Then how come I never saw him before in Ichiraku?"

"I... hum... I don't know. It's strange." Ayame smiled. "What?"

"You're so beautiful..."

Sakura looked strangely at Ayame and then it hit her. "You said you have something to tell me. What is it?"

"My name is not Ayame..."

"Wha...?"

"Close your eyes."

"Why?"

"Please, just..."

"Okay but who are you?" asked Sakura as she was shutting her eyes.

"I'm someone you know very well. I've been disguising myself..." Naruto had transformed back into himself and was leaning forward.

"But why?"

"Because I love you..." His lips were almost touching Sakura's. Their breaths were blending together. Sakura, recognizing Naruto because of his voice, moved towards him. She opened her eyes a bit, enough to see the handsome boy she had in front of her. She closed her eyes again, thinking she couldn't be happier. Their bodies were moving on their own, slowly, towards each other but never touching because if they did, they would never be separated again. It was like two magnets, resisting because when they touched they will be together forever. Their chakras were already connected and it circled around them as a shield. The heat was overwhelming. Naruto passed his hand through Sakura's hair and she shivered from the touch. It was so different that anything they had felted before. The real passion was there, enveloping them. It lasted a few seconds, the last seconds before they were finally united. A few seconds to feel each other love, to discover passion, to realize they were made for each other. Their lips brushed against each other, enough to get each other scents and suddenly, as they were going to kiss, something broke them apart and sent Naruto flying a meter away.

___

Sasuke had thought he was going to be too late. When he turned around the corner in Ichiraku's road, he could see them almost kissing. He started to run, as fast as he could. He had to stop this kiss. One kiss, and all was over. One kiss, and they would be the force to bring him down. He sent flying Naruto just before the kiss could happen. One second later, and it would have been too late. He looked at Naruto, pretending to be angry:

"How could you do something to Sakura? Pretending to be someone..."

"I..." Naruto couldn't say anything. He was so close to kiss her. He was so close to being happy. Why did he have to interfere? Sakura was not rejecting him. He knew she had moved towards him. So why wasn't she taking his side? He looked at Sakura. She was still sitting. She had her eyes opened and she seemed to be thinking. _'Why he is here? Does everything he do must be to cut off my relationship with Naruto. He's so annoying... Can't he find something other to do than to mess with my life? I don't believe he just blew off my kiss with Naruto. I'm so going to kill him for that!'_

Seeing that Sakura didn't talk, Naruto started to say: "I'm so sorry Sakura-chan. Please don't hate me. I just did it to see you."

"Oh shut up Naruto, we don't want your lame excuse…" started Sasuke.

"And you shut up. I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to Sakura and I think she can answer on her own."

Sakura quickly glanced at Sasuke, wanting to understand why he had forced Naruto to step back and why he was saying all of those things, but apparently not quickly enough to avoid his sharingan.

'_I understand now why I loved Ayame so much. How could I hate you when all what you did was to be with me? I love you!'_

"How could you? I hate you! I don't want to see you, never again."

'_What is happening? Why am I saying that? Why am I not saying to things I want to say?'_ She turned her head to see a grinning Sasuke with his sharingan on. _'NO! He is doing that to me. How come he can control me like that? It's not true. I love you!'_

"I hate you. Don't ever come near me again!" _'No. Please. Don't do this to me. I love him. I love him. Don't make him hate me. Sasuke… Please. Please stop it. Don't. He's going to hate me. I… love… him. He's everything to me. Why are you doing this? WHY?' _

"Why did you do this Naruto? I hate you!"

'_WHY? Please, don't do this to him. He's going to be heartbroken. Please…' _And realization hit her_. 'You… you… you want him to be… Why Sasuke? NARUTO !! Don't listen to me! I love you…'_

"You're so stupid. Listen to me… I hate you."

'_No!!! Every word I want to say is turned and the opposite is said… If… I hate you!'_

"I hate you!"

Her heart ached as she saw Naruto hurt by every word she said. _'What? Sasuke can even control me depending on the things I think. Then I just have to stop wanting to talk. Maybe if I can touch Naruto…' _Sakura wasn't saying anything now. She started to move forward to touch Naruto but her body didn't respond. Instead, it turned around and left. She stopped again, realizing what Sasuke was making her do. She had no intention of walking away but it was too late already. It was torture for the two. One couldn't understand where all the passion had gone. Could everything really disappear in a flash? The other couldn't stand to see her lover being hurt because of her. Was she only able to hurt the one she loved? Naruto had tears in his eyes. He couldn't understand why she was acting like this, didn't she love him? He closed his eyes as he made his choice.

"I love you and I've done a lot of things to be with you Sakura but I'm through with this, it's over. You've hurt me enough. I can't continue acting like it's nothing. I thought you loved me… but apparently not." Naruto turned around. If he had stayed a second longer, he would have seen Sakura crying silently and looking at his back desperately as tears rolled down her cheeks without being able to stop. Both of their hearts were torn apart, for both of them it was the end of the world, and all the happiness that could have been was long gone. The blond was trying to shut down his heart forever, the pink was trying to break free from Sasuke's jutsu and in the middle, the dark-haired boy, the one they once thought was their best friend, was orchestrating their destruction. Tears continued to roll down as the night felt down and light disappeared. All that should have been was happiness, smiles and love. All that stayed was darkness, destruction and hatred.

___

Naruto was on the top of the hill. He could see all of Konoha under him. Sakura was in a small room where Sasuke had put her. From the barred window, she could see a figure on a hill. She wasn't controlled by Sasuke anymore but she couldn't escape her prison. Outside, Sasuke was also looking at the lone figure that stood up the hill: "Finally, with Naruto gone thanks to Sakura, I can maybe aim for the title Hokage and rebuild my clan." Sakura felt a single tear roll down but she didn't moved. Her eyes were fixed on the one she loved so much. And all she could do for him was whisper slowly: "I've always loved you. I'm so sorry for not realizing before. All this is my fault. I love you and I will forever. Don't forget me..." Her words were carried by the wind and Naruto felt a warm breeze pass through his hair, a breeze that touched his heart and very deep inside of him, something lightened up... The will of fire was not lost... Something in him still lived, still loved... He looked at Konoha one last time and turned around. He just had to walk away for now…

___

**AN: That's it! End of part 1... Next chapter, part 2 begins!  
Hope you enjoyed the chapter and all of this first part 1.  
I don't know when I'll update, I'm sick and I have a lot of work to do... I guess it'll depend on the review I'll get...  
If you have any question regarding the first or the upcoming part, I'll answer...  
Please REVIEW!!! **


	8. Part 2, Chapter 1

**AN: And here begins part 2…  
I'm very sorry for not being able to update before, I have so many tests at school so I don't have much time. Plus, I was sick for a week… but sorry again.  
Thanks a lot to all of those who reviewed!! **

___

It had been two years, two years since he had seen this place. The place that had hurt him so much but the place that had also brought him so much happiness. It was finally in front of him again. The village, the mountain, the forest… Yes, for the first time in two years, Naruto had come back to Konoha.

_Flashback_

'_Where should I go now?'_

Naruto had been in the land of waves, living with Inari and his mom for three months. When he had left Konoha, he had nowhere to go, so he had decided to visit the land of Waves. There, Tazuna and Inari had offered him a place to stay. He couldn't say he was unhappy but he wasn't happy either. All he thought was that it was better than nothing. He had a roof over his head, food, people who cared about him. Unfortunately, three months after his arrival, he had to go because of one visit he received.  
He was at the market place when he caught a glimpse of pink hair. He realized instantly that it had to be Sakura. He had never seen anyone with pink hair in the land of waves, actually he had never seen anyone with pink hair anywhere except in Konoha. "Naruto!" He started to run and she ran behind him.

"Naruto, please. I need to talk to you. I don't have much time."

"There's no need to talk." Naruto was faster than her. He knew that if they kept running, he was going to escape, sooner or later. And so he kept running and the distance kept growing. Suddenly, Naruto started to feel another presence behind Sakura. Someone else was running behind her, and it didn't take long for Naruto to understand it was Sasuke.

"Please Naruto… He's going to be here soon."

Naruto slowed down. _'What did she mean by that?'_

Feeling Sasuke coming near, Sakura shouted as loud as she could: "NARUTO! I Lo.."

Naruto turned around, facing her. But she wasn't saying anything anymore. Her sentence had been cut. She had this sad and inexpressive look on her face, the same she had when she had broke his heart. Sasuke had his sharingan on.

"What are you doing to her?" asked Naruto angrily.

Sasuke just smiled. He had Sakura under his control now. He had no need to answer Naruto, well at least, no through himself. And so Sakura answered, crying, "He's not doing anything to me. Go away!"

But her words didn't match her face; her eyes were saying something else. _'Don't go! Don't leave me…'_ It was like she was asking him to stay with her. Naruto couldn't understand, he was so confused by what was happening. She was crying, the most hurtful way he had seen her cry but her words were completely different. His heart hurt, hurt by her and hurt for her, but he walked away… again.

_End of Flashback_

As Naruto sat on the Hokage's head, he looked at the village he had missed so much. The ramen, the streets, his house, his friends. Yes, he had missed them a lot… Of course, he had wanted to come back at some point, but he didn't know how everyone would react and he was afraid by that. Would his friends talk to him or just ignore him? Everyone had grown and Naruto also had grown during the two years, grown in height, in maturity and in strength. He was a handsome blond man, stronger than ever. He had trained with several great ninjas who had taught him magnificent jutsus. He had learned sage jutsu and sage mode with the frogs during 2 months and there he had learned about his father. As shocked as he was to learn the fourth was his father, something in him was not surprised. It was like he always knew. He had admired him so much, loved him so much, as he was his father. After the three months in the land of waves and the two months with the frogs, he had moved every month to prevent from being found by Sakura or Sasuke again. He was in different villages, with different names but he had always the same goal: to protect Konoha and destroy Akatsuki. He had already killed a lot of them, but three were remaining and he knew they weren't wondering around alone. If he could separate them, he had a chance to win but Kisame, Zetsu and Tobi were always together and they were too strong to fight them alone. That's why he had come back to Konoha: he needed help. He sure hoped Shikamaru, Kiba, Shino, Lee, Neji and Choji will accept to help him but he had to ask the Hokage first. He smiled as he remembered one of the letters he had received from Tsunade…

_Flashback_

Dear Naruto,

I guess I should thank you for last week. He took me a few days to understand what was happening. A few teams had been killed near the village and I didn't know what to do. Then, Shizune told me that a team had seen an Akatsuki member and probably Pain, near the village. I decided to put the village on alert to protect it at all cost. A day passed, all of our teams waiting for the battle to come. Two days... Three days… At this point, it was clear that someone had beaten Pain, without me knowing it and without anyone noticing. Another day, and I finally understood it was you. Who else could it be? Naruto, I know you're strong and even if you're gone, I know you still care about the village and that you protect what is close to your heart.

So thanks again, because without you, the village would have suffer so much… I don't think I can get you to come back, all I can hope for is for you to come back one day on your own. The village misses you, all your friends and Kakashi too…

Tsunade, the fifth Hokage, who loves you and misses you.

Naruto had tears in his eyes. He missed her too. He didn't know how the letter had found him: he had woken up and it was in front of his tent. _'Is Tsunade making someone follow me? If she is, the follower is going to be in serious trouble when I find him…' _But Naruto still smiled, happy to see someone was worried about him.

_End of flashback_

The sun was making his way from behind the trees. It was still fresh but Naruto could feel the first ray of sunshine on his bare arm. It felt good. From under him, the village was waking up. The shops were opening. People were getting out of bed. The early ones were already in the streets, walking. Naruto decided to go to the Hokage's office to see Tsunade. She was inside, like he thought, waking up with a bottle of sake.

"Already drinking?" Naruto had taken the shortcut, which meant entering in the office by the window. Tsunade tried in vain to hide the bottle but it ended up broken on the floor.

"You… My bottle is broken because of you!"

Naruto laughed. "Come on… I know you have plenty under your desk…"

Tsunade smiled, it was not the time to be angry. "So, finally decided to come back? You sure took your time…"

"I'm not here to stay. I'm here because…"

"Yes, yes, I know." Tsunade looked sad, or maybe just disappointed, "I just hoped you would stay."

"I…" Naruto lowered his head. "I'm sorry… but I can't."

Tsunade looked at him. He had indeed become a fine man. Handsome, tall, and surely very strong. "Just for a few days? The time for me to talk to everybody who would be interested to help you?"

"Okay." Naruto whispered.

Someone knocked lightly at the door.

"ENTER!"

"Tsunade-sama, there's…" The pink-haired girl stopped right in the middle of her sentence. She couldn't believe what was in front of her. "Naruto?"

"I… I should go."

"No please Naruto. Just listen to me…" But he wasn't here anymore. He had already gone by the window.

___

'_Why did she have to be there? Why was she the one to open the door? Why always her?'_ Naruto was almost crying. Once again on top of the Hokage's head, Naruto remembered his most painful memory on the two years he had passed alone. Each time he thought of it, he wanted to throw things, he wanted to hurt things. It was so hurtful for him, he wanted to forget all of it. He even once transformed in Kyuubi just because of the memory. And there he was, just because he had seen her, just because of the feeling he had felt when he had saw the pink hair behind the door, remembering it again.

_Flashback_

Naruto was walking in a forest. He didn't know exactly where he was but he knew he was not very far from Konoha. It had been a year since he had gone. Night was falling quickly and he wanted to find a clearing to make camp. The birds were flying around him and the only sound he heard was the beating of their wings. Everything was calm and seemed at peace. Finally, in front of him, the trees had made a hole: the clearing was quite small but it was better than nothing. Naruto looked for firewood and made camp. He was slowly falling asleep when a small envelope came down from the sky. It landed near him and it awoke him. He saw the bird that was carrying the message fly away: unfortunately, the message would never reach the person who was supposed to read it. Naruto sat and took the envelope. On it was the symbol of Konoha. He smiled, knowing the message was probably about someone he knew. Curiosity took control of him and he opened the letter. In a second, Naruto became livid. Why had he opened the letter? His heart stopped beating and his hands started shaking. How was it possible? Anger, sadness, pain… Emotions ran through him faster and faster. The words were burning him, even worse than fire. The words echoed in his head, hurting him every time a little more… _'You are cordially invited celebrate the marriage of Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura.'_

___

**AN: I hope you enjoyed this chapter.  
Please REVIEW !**


	9. 2 Chapter 2

**AN: There is chapter 9 (or the second chapter of part 2). I hope you enjoy it!  
Thanks a lot to all of those who reviewed, please keep on reviewing…**

___

It had been two very difficult years for Sakura. The night Naruto had left, Sasuke had imprisoned her and he had kept her there for a week. He convinced everyone, even the Hokage, that she didn't want to see anyone but him. He brought her food, drink, and kept telling her things could be worse.

_Flashback_

"Hello Sakura. How are you today?"

She didn't answer. She knew her answer would not change the way he acted. She just looked the opposite way.

"Not talking are you? I came to see if you were okay, don't get so upset."

"YOU BROKE HIS HEART!" she shouted, anger rising inside her. Each time she saw Sasuke, she just couldn't control herself.

"Aw, come on, you know YOU did it. I didn't say anything."

Tears were rolling down her cheeks. She muttered under her breath: "No I didn't."

"If you try to control yourself, I'll let you out… You just have to show me you can behave properly. This is not how an Uchiha should act."

Sakura lifted her head up. Confusion could be seen on her face until it struck her. "No… no…"

"Yes…" Sasuke came near Sakura. He took her hand and caressed her. Sakura didn't move, she was too frightened. Sasuke put his hand on her cheek and his head came nearer and nearer. His mouth was only a few centimeters away. Sakura could feel his breath and her whole body was shaking with anger and fear. Sasuke was enjoying her state. He smiled. His lips approached her but just before he could kiss her, she spit on him.

"I'll never kiss you."

Sasuke frowned and grabbed Sakura's hair. "You'll wish you never did that. I'll make you pay for what you just did. You should never spit on an Uchiha… You're lucky I have to meet up with the guys, you would have suffered." Sakura was shaking again, the fear rising. "And next time, it will be worse than a kiss." With that, he lifted her head by the hair and he crushed his lips on her, making a bruise all around her mouth in the process. "See you…"

The door closed behind him and Sakura started crying. She cried and cried until she fell asleep.

___

It had been two days since Sasuke had came to see her. Sakura was starving and she needed mostly water. She knew that when he came, she won't be able to defend herself. She was protecting herself from the cold of the night with her chakra and she had not a lot of chakra left. She was on the edge of collapsing when she heard the key entering in the lock. The door opened and Sasuke entered. He closed the door behind him and put back the key in his pocket.

"Well, hi there. You seem tired. What were you doing all this time?" He laughed.

"…"

"Not talking again? I hoped you would have learned from your mistakes but apparently not." Sasuke started walking forward and unbuttoning his shirt.

"No please."

"Why not? You'll soon be my wife…"

"NEVER!"

Sasuke stopped walking. "Really? Don't worry about it. I'll leave you some time. Let's say one year… enough time to forget Naruto."

"I'll never forget him, I love him!"

"You love him? Really… Oh well, you'll eventually get over him. And, I knew it already… Sorry to tell you that." He smiled. "Where were we? Oh yes." He started moving forward again.

"NO! Help someone please help."

"No one will hear you…"

"Please Sasuke. Stop. I'll do anything you want. Please."

"Anything?"

"Anything."

"Even marry me?"

"…" She closed her eyes. "Yes."

"Okay. I'll stop for now. Tomorrow, you will come out of here and go back to your house. But if you try anything, and I mean it, I will put you back in here and what should have happened now will happen… Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"If you talk to someone, if you try to escape, anything, I will finish it."

"Yes."

"Good girl…"

And he was gone again.

___

Sakura was looking at her reflection in the mirror. It was night time. She was wearing her normal outfit but she had also a backpack prepared. After Sasuke had let her out, her life was even more miserable. Of course, she had her friends and family but she couldn't say anything. Her last hope was to escape and find Naruto. It was the only thing she could do to survive. When she was in the village, Sasuke was constantly watching her. She had not a single second alone. He had forced her to refuse every mission she was given so she couldn't go out of the village. She had also stopped seeing Tsunade because she was forbidden to be with her alone. When she was going out, he was always there. The only time she was actually alone was the night, after he locked her window and door. She spent most of her night awake because it was the only time she felt a little bit of freedom. She preferred to sleep during the day, when she knew she couldn't do anything. That's why she knew she had to escape during the night. She had planned everything with perfection. The little bit of wood that would prevent Sasuke from locking the door but he would not be aware of it. The shower on in case he would come during the night. She took her backpack, opened the window, and flew away.

The sensation of freedom was incredible. For the first time in two months, she felt like a bird, flying in the sky. She was running as fast as she could, knowing Sasuke would discover her escape not more than four hours after she escaped. She had four hours ahead of him but he ran faster than her. She just hoped he would not have the same idea than her. She was heading for the land of Waves, thinking it was the only place where Naruto could be after leaving Konoha. If Sasuke thought she was going to Suna, it would gain her some precious time: she had left on her desk a letter of Temari asking Sakura to visit her. She hoped Sasuke would think she had gone there. Unfortunately, Sasuke is a little bit more intelligent than he appears and so he saw right through Sakura's plan. The next morning, he stopped Sakura in time, just before she confessed her love to Naruto.

"You really thought you could escape?"

"…"

"You knew what to expect if you failed…"

"I…"

"And you did it even if you knew… why?"

"I… I had to try." Her voice was almost inaudible but Sasuke managed to hear her.

"You had to? And now that it's over, would you do it again?"

"No."

"Good. But you will stay in the room for three days without eating, is that clear."

"Yes." All Sakura could do was hope not to be touched by Sasuke. She could starve, she didn't care, she could be imprisoned, she didn't care anymore but to be touched by him, it was too much. And so she spent three days starving in the room… He let her go like he said he would on the third day and she got home.

___

The life of Sakura Haruno had been a pretty good life. She had grown up loved by her two parents. She had learned what friendship was with her best friend Ino. She had a crush on one of her teammates to one day realized it was the other she was really in love with. She had laughed, she had cried, but life was good to that pink-haired girl. Yes, Sakura Haruno had had a wonderful life, that is until she became Sakura Uchiha. From the moment she knew what she was becoming, she knew also that this part of her life would be way darker. And she was right…  
The wedding had been planned for a year by the groom, while the bride had passed most of the year imprisoned. She had accepted his offer under threats of hurting her and her family. Nobody was aware of the devil plan that was actually occurring. Behind the fake smile and happiness, Sakura was in pain. When she was talking about her marriage, she was always under Sasuke's jutsu and so, she seemed to be happy about it. The fatal day came, and went. And nothing had changed. Well, she was now leaving with Sasuke and it was impossible for her to escape. He had a security system all around the house and a guard protecting her at all times. Fortunately, she still had her best friend:

"You should go to the Hokage…"

"I can't see her, don't you remember? It's forbidden. If I try to get close to her, my guard will stop me."

"I'm so sorry Sakura."

"Don't be Ino, it's not your fault."

"I know, but I'm your best friend, I know your secret, I know you're suffering and I can't do anything about it. If only I could tell someone about it…"

"NO!" Sakura's guard looked at her, ready to interfere. "It's okay, don't worry." She looked back at Ino, whispering. "Please Ino, it's too risky. Promise me you won't."

"I won't, I won't but it hurts me to see you like this…"

"If only…"

"What?"

"Do you think you could cast your mind justu on Sasuke? That way I could escape enough time to do something."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"His jutsu is stronger than mine, I already tried. But don't worry, he has no memories of it."

Sakura sighed. "So there's really nothing I can do…"

_End of Flashback_

It had been two years since Naruto had gone and it had been a year since her marriage. Sakura was fortunately not getting pregnant and she sure hoped it would continue this way. Having a child of the guy who was making her life seem like hell was torture. She couldn't imagine what it was going to be like. Routine had come and Sakura woke up every day, not hoping for anything anymore. At first, she had tried to find a way to escape, to talk to someone, to find a plan with Ino but nothing had worked and she was now tired of trying. Hope and light were getting away. She was not more than a ghost in the roads of Konoha. But thanks to her best friend, she had finally found something that could work.

"See Sakura, I told you I could not use my jutsu on Sasuke…"

"And now you can?"

"No but… I can use it on the guard. And while I control him, you can go talk to the Hokage!" Sakura didn't seem very convinced by Ino. "Please Sakura, it's the only way. I've thought and thought about it and you know we can't do it differently. So please, just try."

"I don't know..."

"Please Sakura, I can't bear to see you like this… Do it for me please."

Sakura looked at her best friend and she could see it in her eyes: she was not giving up. "Okay, we'll do it." She smiled.

And that's how she came to be in the same room as Naruto.  
"Tsunade-sama, there's…" and the rest was so low nobody heard it, "something I need to tell you…" "Naruto?"

"I… I should go."

"No please Naruto. Just listen to me…" But he wasn't here anymore. A tear fell from Sakura's eyes but she quickly recovered, knowing she had not a lot of time. "Tsunade-sama, I need to tell you something."

"What it is?" Tsunade didn't want to talk to her… Sakura had resigned from being a ninja and she had not talked to her a single time during two years.

"Sasuke is contr…" And that was it. From behind the window, in front of Sakura, two sharingan had appeared. Once more, she had been cut right when she was going to be free.

"Is what?"

"Nothing Tsunade-sama. I'll go now."

Once again, it had not worked. She was still controlled by Sasuke and she knew she will suffer for what she had just done. But as sad and angry Sakura was, something in her was lighter, something in her hoped again. Naruto had come back and with him, dreams of a happier future.

___

**AN: Hope you liked it! If there are any questions or comments, don't hesitate…  
Please REVIEW!**


	10. 2 Chapter 3

**AN: Well, there is the (not so big) third chapter of part two. I hope everyone is still enjoying the story! Thanks a lot for the reviews…**

___

All Sakura wanted was to see Naruto but since her encounter with Tsunade, Sasuke was more than ever watching her closely. She had no time alone at all and she was suffocating. Only now did she really understand what she was going through. To see Naruto so close made her realized everything. Before, she knew that she couldn't do anything to change what was happening but now, she felt the urge to break free. An d only now would she be able to do something. The only rare moment when she was alone was, fortunately, when she went to the bathroom. She knew it was then that she could try something… And the answer came naturally, when she was inside. _'Of course! I just need to do what Naruto did! Sasuke doesn't know I'm able to do a shadow clone… I'm so stupid! If only I had thought of it sooner…'_ When the false Sakura got out, her guard took her by the arm and she went downstairs where Sasuke started again to watch her. But upstairs, the real Sakura was trying to find a way to get out. She smiled as, once again, the answer came on her own… _'I just have to transform myself in a boy, just like Naruto did in a girl!'_ And so she did. She got out, mixing with the cooks who had their day off. The sun burned her, the wind froze her but the happiness of being free was incredible. She felt so alive for the first time in a long time. She walked in the streets until, suddenly, in front of her, Naruto appeared. She transformed back into the real Sakura, knowing Sasuke would be at home and had no chance to be around.

"Naruto!" He turned his head to look at her and disappeared in a yellow flash.

"Why does he avoid me? WHY? It's not my fault…"

Naruto had appeared right behind her again. He put his hand on her back.

"Because you didn't care about me after Sasuke's return, everything I did for you and you just rejected me. When you learned I was Ayame, you just pretended nothing happened, you didn't try to understand why I did it, you just said those hurtful things... So, tell me, why would I not avoid you? Why should I speak to you?"

"But it's not my…"

And he was gone again.

___

Sakura, transformed in a boy again, had looked for Naruto all day. She had searched around the Hokage's head, at Ichiraku, on the training fields, even at his previous house, but he was nowhere to be found. Of course, she couldn't guess he was in fact in his new house, in the Namikase compound. She was getting pretty tired and so she decided to eat at Ichiraku. Minutes after ordering, Naruto came in her sight. He was absolutely handsome, his hair, his eyes… Sakura shook her head, it was no time to think about that. He seated next to her and ordered his favorite ramen. As he started to eat, he turned his head towards the boy next to him.

"Hi! I never saw you before. What's your name?"

"Hum… my name is, my name is… hum… Yakito."

"Yakito? Never heard of someone named Yakito… Where are you from?"

"I'm from… the sound village."

"Oh ok, my name is Naruto, I'm from… from… nowhere I guess."

"Nowhere?" Sakura was surprised Naruto would say he was from nowhere. Was he not attached to Konoha anymore?

"I was from Konoha, I don't know where I am from now…"

"That's stupid! You're still from Konoha, and you will always be!"

Naruto smiled. "You seem to know me…"

"I… no… I've never seen you."

He smiled again. "I need to go. It was nice to meet you. See you…"

Naruto paid his dinner and went home. Sakura watched him as long as she could, until he was too far to be seen. She sighed and let out the breath she was keeping since he had gone. How could someone have an effect like that on her? She smiled but quickly remembered that Naruto was clearly not speaking with her and that it would be difficult to gain his trust and maybe friendship again.

___

Shikamaru has always been a guy that only does what he needs to survive. He is so lazy that everything that requires a bit too much of attention is put away. Everything, expect something that would help a friend of him. When he had learned that Naruto had come back, he was happy. When he had heard that it was to get people to help him defeat Akatsuki, he directly found it troublesome but he also directly said that he would come. After all, Naruto was one of his best friends, and he will not let him face Akatsuki alone. He came back home that night, happy and content of himself. When he saw his wife, he kissed her tenderly and asked how her day had gone.

"Naruto came back."

"I know."

"You're going to help him, aren't you?"

"Well yes. But if you don't…"

"No, I know it's important to you…" She smiled. "Have you seen Sakura today?"

"No why?" Shikamaru was taken by surprise by her wife's tone. "What is it?"

"I saw her yesterday going to the Hokage office, and then coming out minutes later, Sasuke next to her."

"And what?"

"I don't know. I just feel something is not right."

"You tell me that every time you see her."

"It's because something IS wrong!" she shouted, angry at her husband for not believing him. "I'm sorry, but I assure you, I can feel it… I don't know what, but Sasuke is hiding something…"

"Okay, I'll try to figure out what but don't get so angry… it's no good for the baby…" Shikamaru put his hand on his wife's belly.

"Stop it with that pineapple-head!"

"But… I love you Temari…" He kissed her.

Temari lifted her eyes and smiled. "Baka."

___

It was night time. Sakura had succeeded in coming back without being discovered. She was alone in her bed: she was not sharing her bed with her husband and she preferred it that way. She still heard him snoring from a nearby room. Sakura looked at the ceiling. _'What am I supposed to do? I'm not going to live this life, with Sasuke as my husband… but Naruto is not talking to me.'_ She sighed. _'I'm going to do everything I can to explain myself to Naruto. If he doesn't want to see me, then he'll see Yakito…' _And Sakura fell asleep.

The next morning, she once more did a clone and transformed a real self in Yakito. She was wondering in the streets when she bumped into Naruto.

"Oh sorry."

"Hey it's you… Yakito, is it?"

"Yes. How are you?"

"I'm fine, and you?"

"Never better… So… where are you going?"

"I'm going to the training grounds, you want to come? We can train together if you want."

Sakura hesitated a bit and then decided she wanted to be with him the most time she could. "Okay, I'll come."

And they fought almost all day. But if someone had watched them, he would not have seen them fight at first. Their fighting styles were almost perfectly compatible. Sakura was enjoying a lot her day with Naruto. And Naruto was happy for the first time in long time, without really understanding why. _'It'll be great to be friend with someone. I've been alone for such a long time now.' _And Naruto smiled, just before creating a rasengan and throwing it towards Yakito's stomach who avoided it quickly. Sakura checked her watch and realized it was almost dinner time. She had to go back home before something happened. She tried to hit Naruto one last time with her powerful strength before saying she had to go. "I'm sorry, I have to go."

"Okay then, why don't we see each other again tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure…"

"See you."

"See you too…"

Sakura turned around and went back home, without knowing what was waiting for her.

___

The clone Sakura had made before leaving was at this moment cooking at home. Sasuke was seating a bit further, watching her to see every of her moves. Sasuke was not a man that accepted failures and so when the cake burned, he scolded her, when the pasta were a little bit too salty, he shouted at her. And when, unfortunately, she broke one of the glasses, he threw something at her. And in a puff, the clone disappeared. Sasuke stared at the hole where Sakura was standing a second ago. He took him a few seconds to come to his senses and to understand. He frowned and shouted angrily as loud as he could: "WHERE IS SHE?"

___

**AN: I hope you liked this chapter…  
Please REVIEW!!**


	11. 2 Chapter 4

**AN: Thanks for the reviews! Here is chapter 11. Hope you will enjoy it! **

___

"Where were you?"

"In my bedroom, why?"

"Why did you perform a clone, and how come I don't know that you're able to do one?"

Sakura was standing in front of her husband. When she was walking home after her training with Naruto, she had felt the clone disappearing and she instantly knew everything that had happened. She ran to her house and entered by the window. Sasuke was still yelling. She opened the door and went downstairs, waiting for the questions to come.

"I was just tired so I made a clone so she could do the cooking for me. And I learned how to make one a long time ago…"

"That's all?" Sasuke looked skeptical.

"Well, yes… why would I make a clone otherwise?"

Sasuke smiled. _'She's stupid… She could use one to escape…'_ "You're right. Next time, tell me so I can be prepared."

"Yes Sasuke, of course."

"You can go now, you're dismissed."

"Thank you."

Sakura turned around and went back to her bedroom. It had worked even better than she had hoped. _'He's stupid or what? How come he believed something so stupid?'_ Sakura lied down on her bed, closing her eyes to imagine Naruto. _'I wish Sasuke had never come back. All that happened is his fault… and a bit mine too. Had I not acted as a fan girl when he came back, I'll be happy with Naruto. What am I going to do now? If I do a clone again, Sasuke will check on me. And if I do a second clone, I'll be able to go only for a few hours. I'm not capable of controlling two clones for long, I don't have enough stamina. But I guess being with Naruto only a few hours is better than nothing…' _

___

It had been one year since Sakura had told Ino the truth about her marriage. And Ino couldn't bear to see her best friend in this state. She had tried countless times to make her realized she had to tell someone but nothing had worked. Sasuke had this strange power on her, and Ino could see it was not only because of the sharingan. Sakura was truly afraid of Sasuke. To know all of Sakura's hell was a burden to Ino. She wanted so badly to help her or to tell someone who could help but Sakura kept saying that she couldn't: "Even if you tell someone, there is no proof that Sasuke is controlling me…" Ino tried again and again and Sakura kept rejecting her ideas until the one where she could see the Hokage. Sakura had accepted and the plan had worked well at first. But when Ino had saw Sakura coming out of the office, Sasuke next to her, she had understood it hadn't worked until the end. _'I can't do this anymore Sakura, I'm sorry. I'm going to get someone to help us.'_ It took her a few days to actually go to someone.

"Knock, knock"

"Yes, coming…." The door opened in front of Ino. "It's you Ino, come in."

"Thanks."

"So… what's the occasion of you coming here?"

"I have to talk to both of you about Sakura."

Temari gave Ino a strange and confused look before calling Shikamaru. "Shika!!! Come down here now!"

"Coming!" he yelled, and saying to himself, "She's so troublesome…"

"I heard that."

"Crap…" Shikamaru muttered. He came down quickly and stopped when he saw Ino. "Hey Ino, what's up?"

"We have to talk."

They all went to the living room where they seated and waited for Ino to start talking.

"I… first, you have to promise you won't tell anybody and you won't do anything about it…"

Shikamaru and Temari looked at each other before answering together: "We won't do anything."

"Thank you. It's about Sakura. I don't know if you suspect something or not but Sakura's marriage is far from the perfect marriage everyone think. There's something nobody sees."

Temari jumped and pointed at her husband: "See! I told you something was not right…" She sat down again, wanting to hear the story.

"She's being controlled by Sasuke. He uses an advanced technique with his sharingan. He can control her move and what she says. From the day Naruto left the village, and even during her marriage. He uses her to rebuild his clan. But I can't do anything to help her and she doesn't want me to tell anybody. I… I…" And Ino burst into tears. "I'm such a lousy friend. I've watched her being hurt again and again and I didn't do anything. I had to get it out of my chest. I'm so sorry this falls on you."

Shikamaru stood up and went next to Ino. "You're my best friend, I know I can trust you. Even if I didn't see anything, I trust you about this. You wouldn't lie… We're going to help Sakura, okay?"

"But she…"

"We have to Ino. We can't let her live like that."

"It's true," said Temari, "I always felt something was wrong and now I'm sure about it. We have to do something."

"Thank you," Ino finally let out.

___

The morning had been quite annoying. Sakura had stayed home not wanting to do any suspicious. She stayed in her room, saying she wasn't feeling well. She ate her lunch and around two o'clock, she called Sasuke.

"I'm going to do a shadow clone so I can rest while the clone is doing my chores. I feel so tired."

Sasuke hardly looked at her. "Sure, sure."

And so Sakura did her first clone. She went back to her bedroom and made a second one. And then she jumped from the window in the garden. _'Hopefully, I will not be discovered…'_ She changed herself in Yakito and walked towards the training fields. She was sure Naruto would be around. He was always training.

"Hi Yakito."

"Oh hi Naruto."

"I'm going to the river to train. You want to come?"

"Yeah sure, but I'm really tired. I don't think I'll be able to fight with you today." _'If I start to fight, I'm not going to last five minutes...'_

"Ok, no problem."

They walked and talked until they arrived next to the river.

"I'm going in, well on," said Naruto smiling.

"I prefer to stay here. I'll watch," answered Yakito. Sakura sat on the grass, looking at Naruto. He was sitting on the water, his hand together. He seemed to be doing a sign but Sakura had never seen it. Naruto was concentrating, trying to gather the sage chakra around him. He was getting better and better at doing it. It only took him a few minutes until he could open his eyes. He could now sense everyone chakra in Konoha. Shikamaru and Temari were at home. Sasuke too. Ino, Choji and Sai were at a restaurant. And Sakura was... _'What? How come Sakura is so near?'_ Naruto turned his head only to see Yakito waving at him. _'No... don't tell me...'_ Naruto smiled and laughed. _'She's doing the __exact same thing I did… I don't believe it. But why would she do that? I thought she didn't care about me.' _The scene in the land of Waves passed through his mind… _'Maybe Sasuke is really doing something to her.'_ "Come Yakito."

Sakura lifted her head. "I don't think I should."

"Come, I'm not going to do anything."

Sakura moved towards Naruto. She walked on the water and stood next to Naruto. He stood up and quickly touched Yakito's head. He put a flow of chakra inside it to disturb Sakura's chakra. In an instant she transformed back into Sakura. She was wearing her normal outfit and her headband. She looked scared and confused. Naruto smiled. "Hello Sakura. What are you doing here?"

"I… How did you know?"

"When I'm in sage mode, I can feel everyone chakra… And Yakito was you…"

Sakura looked down. "I'm sorry."

"No it's okay, but why did you hide yourself?"

"I wanted to be with you, but you didn't want it… I'm so sorry for all the things I've done and said but none of it was me. Sasuke was always controlling me, from the day you left. I never hated you for being Ayame. I never thought it was mean. I knew you did it to be with me but Sasuke made me say those thing… I'm sorry… I always loved you. And I love you. I'm sorry."

"Sasuke controlling you?"

"With a new technique he invented two years ago. Thanks to his sharingan. He… It's horrible. I can't…"

'_Her chakra is calm. If she was lying, it would be disturbed.'_ "Shhh. Don't worry. I can tell you're not lying." Naruto passed his hand through her pink hair and looked at her tenderly. "I've missed you so much."

She blushed. "I'm so sorry Naruto. I didn't mean all the things I said. It's Sasuke…"

"Yeah, I understand now." He looked at her. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Everything was making sense again. The kiss they had almost shared, her look when she had said all those mean things. Her eyes pleading him to stay, the smile on Sasuke's face. All the pieces of the puzzle were finally together and he could understand everything. And he was at peace now. He loved her so much… Suddenly, Sakura jumped in his arms. "I've missed you too." They both smiled. They were finally together and happiness could be felt miles around them. "I love you," she said quietly. "I love you too." And in the middle of the river, with their chakra holding them on top of the water, they kissed with passion. They had held their passion and love for too long. It was exploding now, like a hundred fireworks. They broke the kiss and looked at each other lovingly, finally enjoying a reel moment of happiness without knowing that somewhere, behind the bushes, someone was watching them…

___

**AN: Finally together…  
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the chapter. **

**Please REVIEW…**


	12. 2 Chapter 5

**AN: I updated a little bit faster than I use to do… I don't know if it means the next update will be in a few days or in more than a week… I'll see. For now, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter…**

___

She was the most beautiful thing on earth. When he looked at her, he could feel his heart racing in his chest. She mattered to him more than anything and he couldn't bear to see her unhappy. As she told him everything about her last two years with Sasuke, Naruto could feel the anger rising and the need to protect her. They were still near the river where Sakura had finally been able to tell the truth. Naruto had asked her a lot of question about her life, and especially about the power of Sasuke. Sakura answered them all, even if it hurt her sometimes to remember some of her most painful memories. Seeing that, Naruto had stopped and let Sakura continue her story.

"… and that's it, the two most horrible years of my life."

"I'm sorry Sakura. I shouldn't have gone like that. I should have known you wouldn't do something like that."

"No, it's clearly NOT your fault. You couldn't imagine what was happening. I'm the one who needs to apologize. If I had not acted stupidly when Sasuke had come back, we…"

"Stop. It's not your fault. Everything is because of Sasuke. His hatred towards the village is still here…"

Sakura leaned and put her head on Naruto's shoulder. He began to stroke her hair gently. If the persons watching them didn't know who they were, they would have thought they were together for a long time. There were no anxiety, no fear. The only thing that we could see was love and passion. But the people watching Naruto and Sakura did know who they were and did know that they had finally found each other after years and years of waiting.

"I can't believe they're together… Are they thinking about Sasuke? What if he saw them? They're crazy!" whispered Shikamaru.

"Yes, crazy in love." Ino smiled. "I'm happy to know Sakura is finally happy. She deserves it after all she's been through…"

"Yeah, I think so too." Temari looked at her husband.

"You two are so troublesome… Can't you think of what could happen if Sasuke found out? I don't want to sound pessimist but it could turn things even worse than before… We have to tell them to be careful…"

"Look," said Ino, "they are getting up. Maybe she's going to go home, knowing that Sasuke will need her soon: it's almost six, she's going to have to cook."

Naruto and Sakura were in fact standing up now.

"You want to come at my house? The Namikase compound is quite big…"

"Sure… no problem…"

They started walking towards Naruto's house.

Shikamaru frowned: "Are you sure Sakura is going home? Her house is the other way… Don't you think they probably going to…"

"Yeah."

"Then we should stop them and tell them it…"

"No," Temari stopped Shikamaru before he could be seen, "let's give them the time they need. I'm sure they have plenty of things to do…"

Shikamaru smiled: "Then at least, we have to cover them up."

Ino stood up and said: "Come on, time to cook!"

___

Shikamaru, Temari and Ino were almost in front of Sasuke's house.

"So what's the plan?"

Shikamaru started to talk: "Ino, you're going to enter the house by behind. Find an open window or something. Find Sakura's clone, tell them not to move and transform yourself in Sakura. Then you come down and act as much as possible as Sakura. She's your best friend, I'm sure you'll do great. Temari and I will go to the front and ring. We will distract Sasuke as much as we can so he will not find out about you…"

Ino looked at them, whispered good luck and ran in the direction of the house. Shikamaru and Temari walked to the front and rang. They heard someone getting up, hitting something then swearing and finally arriving at the door. The door opened and they saw Sasuke standing in front of them.

"Hello Sasuke."

"Hi. What do you want?"

Temari tried to stay calm and polite. "We're just here to talk… We were passing by and thought we would come and visit."

"Okay." Sasuke didn't seem to be willing to let them enter.

"Can we come in? It's heavy…" Temari smiled and pointed at her now quite big stomach.

Sasuke felt stupid and opened the door widely to let them come in. "Sure." They entered and Sasuke invited them to proceed to the living room. "Please sit down."

Temari and Shikamaru looked at each other. They sat and quickly thought about something they could talk. Nothing was coming to head and fortunately, Sasuke started the conservation himself.

"So… is it a boy or a girl?"

"We don't want to know… better if it's a surprise!"

"Oh okay." The awkward silence fell again.

Shikamaru was the one to start this time. "But we have names ready for a boy or a girl."

"Really?"

"Yes," continued Temari, "We were thinking about Rukia or Yuri for a girl and Renji for a boy."

"That's great."

"We…" A big noise came from upstairs and Temari stopped abruptly. All three lifted their head and waited. All of a sudden, 'Sakura' appeared. She looked at Temari and Shikamaru to tell them everything was alright. Ino then looked at Sasuke: "Hello Sasuke. I'm going to cook dinner. Hi Temari, hello Shikamaru."

"Hi Sakura," answered Temari.

"Very well," said Sasuke.

Ino walked towards where she thought was the kitchen, after all, she wasn't invited often at Sakura's place. Sakura always preferred to be at Ino's or outside. Sasuke lifted an eyebrow. "The kitchen is that way Sakura." He pointed towards the other side of the house.

"Hum… yes, yes, of course, I just…" and Ino walked away quickly to escape Sasuke glare. She walked in the kitchen and looked around her. _'Jeez, I have no idea where all the things are. Where am I supposed to find a saucepan?'_ Ino continued to search during ten minutes before finding it. _'Okay, and now… let's see what I can prepare.' _She opened the fridge and sighed. _'Come on Ino, you can do it…'_

In the living room, Temari and Shikamaru were short of 'babies' news'. They had talked about the gender, the name, the due date, the baby's room with the color, the bed, the light, and everything about the pregnancy in general. Each time Ino let something fall in the kitchen, Temari asked Sasuke a question. Every time Ino swore about the food, Shikamaru laughed about something that Temari had just said. But they knew that it wasn't going to hold Sasuke much longer. "BAM" Temari and Shikamaru looked at each other with fear in their eyes. "WHAT A STUPID FISH!!!" Ino was yelling. Sasuke stood up and excused himself. "What are you doing Sakura? You know I HATE FISH!!"

Temari once again looked at her husband. "We're screwed."

"Yeah, I know."

"WHERE IS SAKURA?"

"There we go…" said Shikamaru, "maybe we should go help Ino."

They both walked to the kitchen where they saw Sasuke holding Ino by the hand. He was yelling again. "Can you tell me why you were disguised in Sakura?"

"I… hum… I… Sakura is at my place."

"I'm going there, she's dead."

"NO!" said Ino, "you can't."

"And why not?"

"You… she's at my place, yes, but you can't see her." Sasuke was beginning to look very very angry. "You can't because she's preparing herself."

"Preparing for what?"

Ino looked at Shikamaru. "She's… you were not supposed to know but… she's preparing herself for your surprise party at Shikamaru and Temari's house. A surprise party for your birthday. I know it's in a month but with the baby and all, it was the only time we could manage. Temari and Shikamaru were here to invite you…"

Sasuke looked stunned.

"I'm sorry I had to tell you, it was supposed to be a surprise." Ino's heart was beating fast, the stress and the fear still present. She tried to not look at Temari but even if she didn't, she could see the angry glare she was giving her. "So, you'll be coming?"

Sasuke finally opened his mouth. "Sure. Thanks."

___

Far from Sasuke's house, and far from everything their three friends had to put up with, Naruto and Sakura were having the best of times.

"I'm never going back to him, never. I don't want to see him. I'll stay with you forever. You know I love you, don't you?"

"Of course I know," answered Naruto grinning, "and I love you too. We're going to find a way for you to get out of this marriage. But you may be forced to see him again."

"No please. I can't. Everything but not that. I can't bear to see his eyes again."

"Okay, okay, I'll find another way. And for tonight, we'll find an excuse for you not to come home."

"I'll call Ino and tell her to say I was at her house all night."

"That will be perfect."

Naruto kissed her forehead and then her nose, her chin and finally brushed her lips tenderly. He put his hand behind her head and deepened the kiss. They both walked towards the room, knowing this would be the best night of their lives.

___

"YOU are so DEAD!"

"Sorry, I'm so sorry Temari but I had to come up with something…"

"And why not say the party was at your house?"

"I… I didn't have time to think… Come on, aren't you happy we've been able to save Sakura and Naruto?"

Temari looked at Ino and finally grinned. "Of course, I'm thrilled…"

Ino smiled back. Temari was just one of those girls who couldn't hold a grudge for long and she loved her for that.

"Talking about Naruto and Sakura," started Shikamaru, "we have to tell them we're having a troublesome party tonight… and I doubted they will be thrilled about that…"

___

**AN: And another chapter done… Hope you enjoyed it as much as the others.  
Please REVIEW !!**


	13. 2 Chapter 6

**AN: Sorry it took me so long to update. Thanks to all of those who reviewed and those who put me on their fav/alert list. Please review... I hope you'll enjoy this chapter.**

___

"WHAT? NO… We're not going…"

An angry Sakura was standing in front of Naruto's house. It was dark outside and the only sound was coming from her.

"Shhh…" said Ino looking around, "if you continue, you're going to be discovered. Can't you understand? If you don't come, Sasuke is going to find out you're with Naruto."

"I don't care."

"Please Sakura. I don't want him to hurt you. And he will if we don't stop him all together. But you have to come to the party."

"No way!" Sakura looked at Ino angrily and pouted. She had been woken up, asleep in Naruto's bare chest, to find what? Ino! She was furious at her but at the same time she knew she couldn't do things as stupid as she had just done tonight. Hopefully, Ino, Shikamaru and Temari had covered her up and she owed them for that.

'_What is her problem? I just saved her life and she doesn't want to come? I don't understand her…'_ "But…"

"I know… I know" Sakura smiled. "I'm just angry I will not be able to stay with Naruto all night…"

"You…two… already?" Ino asked with her eyes open.

"WHAT! NO!"

"No?"

"No…. Yes…"

"Yes?"

"Yes…"

"Yes?!? I can't believe it… You two don't waste time… Well go get dressed. You're supposed to have passed hours on preparing yourself so be stunning please." Ino stopped and looked at Sakura. "Oh and stop putting that idiotic smile on your face. It's getting on my nerves."

Sakura laughed and turned around.

"What's going on?" asked a tired Naruto.

"We're going to a party…" answered Sakura, looking at him tenderly.

___

While Ino was convincing Sakura to come to the party, Shikamaru and Temari were decorating their house. Well, Temari was… Shikamaru was buying some food and drink for this wonderful party. _'I can't believe Ino dragged us into this… A party at our house! I don't even like parties. And then, I'll have to do all the cleaning because Temari is going to be tired. Oh, that's just troublesome. And what am I supposed to buy?' _Shikamaru continued to ask himself questions during the whole hour he passed in the supermarket. During that time, Ino was trying to get a bunch of people together for a party. She had asked Lee, Guy and Neji but the three of them were already doing something. She then tried TenTen but she was busy. She was getting to Kiba apartment when she saw him getting out. "Hey Kiba!"

"Oh, hi Ino. How are you doing?"

"Not well, unfortunately."

"What's up? Is there something I can do?"

Ino smiled. "Actually, yes…"

"Ok, what is it?"

"See, there's a party tonight at Shikamaru's and I need people to come… Do you maybe think you could come?"

"Hum… Ino… I'm sorry but I'm going out with Hinata and I must pick her up now and we're going to…"

"Then bring her also. The more people there are, the better…"

"But…"

"Please Kiba, I really need some help. It's for… Please." She was begging him now.

Kiba looked at her and sighed. "Fine, we'll come if Hinata is okay with it."

"Oh thank you, thank you so much Kiba!"

After succeeding with Kiba, Ino found it much easier to convince everyone else. She had seen Shino, Kakashi, Tsunade, Shizune, Choji and even Kankuro who was in Konoha for a mission and all had accepted. She came back to Shikamaru's house, quite content of herself. When she entered the house, she was astonished by the decoration. Temari had put lights everywhere in their garden and had put lanterns in the trees. Ino could smell the dishes that were being prepared in the kitchen and it seemed delicious. She knew Shikamaru was cooking and Temari was most probably enjoying her last hours of peace in her bed. Ino walked towards the kitchen and near Shikamaru.

"I'm sorry for putting you and Temari through this…"

"Don't be. Sure it's troublesome but it's worth it. If it can save Sakura, then I'll do it a dozen times."

Ino smiled. "Thanks."

___

It was time. People were starting to arrive. Temari had put a new dress, pregnancy dress, and she was beautiful in it. As the lady of the house, she welcomed everyone, frowning each time she saw someone who wasn't expected.

"I thought Lee and Neji weren't supposed to come?" whispered Temari to Ino.

"They weren't… maybe they came because TenTen did."

"But she wasn't coming either."

"I know, I know… It's not my fault everybody is changing plans… Has Sakura and Naruto arrived?"

"Not yet."

Ino rolled her eyes. "I hope they DON'T change their plan… because if they don't come, all this is for nothing."

"Look!" said Temari, "I think they are here."

Two figures were walking down the street. They were not holding hands nor touching but anyone who would look at them closely would see they were in love. When they looked at each other, approximately every ten seconds, just to see if the love one was still standing near, their faces would be covered in happiness. Their clothes matched: Sakura had a light red dress and Naruto had a suit with a red rose attached. His blond hair matched her gold necklace and her pink hair matched his pink shirt under his suit. They walked silently until they reached the house. When they entered, Ino took Sakura by the hand and led her to the garden. Naruto went to the kitchen where Shikamaru explained what he wanted him to do. It was quite simple. Naruto just had to provoke Sasuke. Naruto turned around only to see Temari greeting Sasuke. Seeing his face and knowing what he had done to Sakura, Naruto knew it was going to be real simple to find a way to provoke him.

"So, Naruto… you've come back…" Everybody was in the garden, around the small table that was being used to serve drinks.

"Yes Sasuke, that's right. I didn't plan to stay long at first but I think I'm going to settle here. I was just in Konoha to find people willing to help me in the battle against Akatsuki, but I think you've heard of it."

"Sure. So all of your friends are going with you I suppose."

"Yes, Kiba, Lee, Shino, Choji and Shikamaru accepted. But you won't I presume."

Sasuke smiled. "You presume right. I just don't have the heart to be separated from my wife during a long time." Sasuke took Sakura by the waist and pulled her closer. Naruto heart hurt and Sasuke saw it. "I'm sure it must be difficult."

"What?"

"To see the woman you love in someone's arms." As soon as Sasuke said that, all of the people around knew he had gone too far. And of course, they were right. Naruto jumped on Sasuke and hit him in the chest with a powerful punch. Sasuke smirked: "You really think this is going to stop me…" Sasuke laughed. "But the worst part must be to know she hates you." Sasuke turned his sharingan on and looked at Sakura. But unfortunately for him, Sakura wasn't looking and he was too far to make her turn her head. "Sakura! Look at me!" His voice was shuddering with anger.

"No!" Everybody looked at Sakura surprised. "No, you won't be able to control me this time. I love Naruto and he knows it." Sasuke frowned.

"Then, I'll just have to kill him now…" Sasuke tried to walk forward only to realize he was paralyzed. Shikamaru was controlling Sasuke thanks to his shadow possession technique. Shikamaru spoke: "And now the controller is being controlled."

Tsunade and Kakashi walked towards Sakura, wanting some explanations.

"I'm so sorry, but I couldn't tell you. He was controlling me all this time. With his sharingan, he controlled the things I said and did. And if I had tried to tell someone, he would have beaten me up."

Tsunade looked at her young student, remorse enveloping her. How could she have not seen that she was suffering? "But we could have helped you Sakura, we would have protected you."

"Would you have believed me?"

Tsunade was taken aback by the question. She wanted badly to say yes but something in her knew she would have turned Sakura down. "I… I don't know. I'm sorry too Sakura. So, who helped you?"

"I told Ino a long time ago and she told Shikamaru and Temari not so long ago. I explained everything to Naruto yesterday." Sakura smiled to Naruto.

Tsunade smiled too, these two did look good together. She turned her head and looked at the traitor. She sighed and called some ANBU. "Take him to the prison and put him in a room that suppresses chakra. Go."

"Yes, Hokage-sama"

___

It had been two weeks since the party. Naruto, Shikamaru and all the boys were planning their attack on the remaining members of Akatsuki. They knew it would be a tough battle, especially Naruto, but he couldn't help being happy. He had his friends back, and the two years he had passed away didn't seem to change anything. He had Sakura, who had moved in with him shortly after the party, and everything seemed great.

"Hey Naruto-kun"

"Hi Sakura-chan, what are you doing here?"

"Just thought I would come see you. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah almost. Actually, we're going tomorrow." Sakura felt the need to tell him to stay here and let the other go and fight Akatsuki but she knew it was impossible. She tried to hide her emotions but Naruto saw trough it. "Don't worry, we'll be okay. We're strong."

"Yeah, I know. I just…"

And Naruto kissed her. "Don't worry I said." He was grinning at her.

"Sure." Sakura stayed a bit with the boys and got home.

___

"Sakura? Are you here?" Ino was knocking at Naruto's house. _'Naruto told me she would be here'_. Ino tried to open the door and it was unlocked. She entered the house and continued to call Sakura. "Where are you?" Suddenly, Ino heard sobbing coming from behind a door. "Sakura?" she almost whispered. Ino opened the door to find Sakura lying on a bed, crying.

"What is it?"

Sakura's eyes filled of tears motioned to something on the floor. Ino picked it up and saw it was a pregnancy test. And it was positive.

"You're pregnant? Wow, that's a surprise…"

"…"

"Why are you sad? You always told me you wanted to have children… well, you told me that when we were smaller but I didn't know you changed opinion."

"…"

"I don't understand, aren't you happy to have a little Naruto?"

"HOW DO YOU KNOW?" Sakura was shouting.

"Know what?"

"That it's going to be a little Naruto…"

"You mean…. No… You don't mean… Sasuke?"

"Yes… That's the real problem… I don't know who the father is…"

And Sakura started crying again.

___

**AN: And end of the chapter. Hope you liked it.  
From the start, I've been thinking of doing a third part but now I'm not so sure. I'm thinking of ending the story at the end of part two, that means in the next chapter. I'm not a hundred percent sure if I want to end it now or not so please give me your opinion. If I do end it now, I'll be working on another story. If I do a third part, there will be another time skip of two years, and it'll be about their lives at that time. So tell me what you prefer. I'll do what most of my readers want me to do so… please REVIEW! **


	14. Author Note

**AN:** I'm so so so sorry I have not updated yet. I know it's been a really really long time, I really am sorry. There was the Christmas break and I traveled so I didn't write. Then, I had to get back to school, start to work again and it was hard… So, didn't write much… I have some things planned out for the last chapter but the worst problem is that I'm hesitating on how to end the story. I had something ready in case most of you preferred me to continue the story but, because everybody wants me to finish, I have a point I need to figure out. I'm quite happy myself to be ending the story, but I have to decide on how… ^^

Anyway, thanks a lot for all the reviews in the last chapter… I will probably update in less than a week so please wait a little more,

Whispers-of-raspberries


	15. 2 Chapter 7

**AN: Hi, I know it's been a long time and I am really really sorry about that. I have a lot of work, tests, and things to do. Anyway, here is the last chapter, hope you will enjoy it as much as the previous ones even if it's been quite some time. Sorry again…**

___

It had been two weeks since Naruto and all the boys had gone to fight Akatsuki. No news had come and all of Konoha was waiting impatiently for their return. The fight was surely being epic and everyone hoped they would all come back without a scratch. But everyone feared the worst. Sasuke had been condemned to imprisonment for life and Sakura felt relieved on this part. For the other part, Sakura was still unsure if she wanted to know who the father of her baby was. If it was Naruto's, she will be thrilled, she knew it. But what was really scaring her was her reaction if the baby was Sasuke's one. Would she hate it? Would Naruto hate it? Would she be able to look at him or her, especially when the child would get the sharingan? All her questions were turning constantly in her head and she had passed two weeks with headaches all the time. Ino tried in vain to help her or reassure her but nothing was working. Even when Sakura forgot for an instant the baby, she started worrying about the battle and Naruto. She balanced from stressed to angry to tired all day long. Finally Ino came to Sakura's house, decided to force her to take the paternity test.

"You have to know!"

"No I don't."

"Yes, and even if you don't take it now, you will learn who is the father in time. If the child has the sharingan…"

"Yes, in time. I'm just not ready now…"

"And how are you going to explain to Naruto that you don't know who is the father?"

"I…."

"Oh please… See… You have to take the test. Are you really that stupid?? It's going to hurt you more if you don't!"

"I don't see how…" Sakura heart twitched, knowing Ino was somehow right. If she didn't take the test, she would be constantly thinking about it, and she knew by experience it was clearly not good.

"Don't say that… I know you know I'm right."

Sakura looked at Ino, she tried to sound sure of her decision but no word came from her mouth. She wanted badly to convince Ino she wouldn't regret it but she just couldn't lie to her best friend. Sakura looked at the floor and finally confessed: "Yeah. But it's hard."

Ino took Sakura in her arms: "I'll come with you."

"Okay," whispered Sakura.

___

Sasuke was in his cell. It had been almost one day since anyone had come to visit. He hadn't eaten or drunk in one day and his body was clearly showing him signs of tiredness. His head hurt and his throat was sour. "WHY ISN'T ANYONE COMING?" Sasuke was tired, sure, but mostly angry at his situation. How had he fallen so low? He was married to Sakura, was wealthy and powerful. Now, he was contained, alone and powerless. He knew his sentence had been decided, but he couldn't understand why they couldn't just kill him off. Was it by remorse or guilt? Then they were insane. _'I'll get out of here someday. And when I do, they will all regret that they didn't kill me…'_

"Hello Sasuke."

Sasuke turned around and saw the Hokage standing in front of him.

"I've come to tell you officially that you have been condemned to a life in prison. Good bye."

Tsunade started to walk but Sasuke finally spoke: "Why? WHY?"

"Why what?"

"Why not kill me?"

"Because you don't deserve to be killed. You deserve to suffer here until you understand what your brother wanted you to do…"

"I'll get out and I'll get my revenge!" Hate was filling his eyes.

"No you won't. As long as the Hokage stands, you won't. Good bye Sasuke. I hope someday your eyes will open… even if I doubt it will ever happen."

And the Hokage left, leaving a broken Sasuke, his hatred filling the room.

___

Sakura had been waiting for the result with Ino for about two hours. She was beginning to think it wasn't a good idea after all. But before she could start deciding she didn't want to know, a medic called her, telling her she had the results. Sakura looked towards Ino and she saw her best friend smile: "Go. You have to face that alone." Sakura entered the small office. It was quite dark, the only light coming from a small window at the back. The big desk took almost all the place and was crowded of paperwork. Whoever worked here wasn't very organized. She sat down on a chair and waited for the medic to talk.

"The results have just come in," said the medic.

"So?"

"So…" the girl looked at her paper, "your baby seems to be the child of Naruto."

"…"

"What? Aren't you hap…"

Sakura didn't let the medic finish, she was already out of the office. Ino was at the door, and seeing the bright smile of Sakura's face, she knew instantly who the father was.

"So good news?"

Sakura smiled once more. "Yeah…"

"I've got another one…"

"Really, what is it?" asked Sakura exited.

"They have returned."

___

Sakura felt the wind passing next to her as she was running. She ran as fast as she could, she desperately wanted to see him, tell him she loved him, tell him about the baby… They were going to be so happy now, everything was going to be wonderful… Sasuke was gone, Akatsuki too, she was pregnant. At the gates of Konoha, she could see people gathering around the boys. Kiba was there, Shikamaru. They were carrying Naruto, like a hero… Sakura came closer and closer and as she was running towards them, she starting noticing the light clues that could have told her something had happened: the people around the boys didn't seem happy, the boys didn't seem content… They more seemed tired, very tired. And as she was a few meters away, she understood what was really happening. Naruto wasn't being carried by the others as a hero, no, he was being carried as blood came down from his side. Tsunade was next to him, healing him, but Sakura could tell she wasn't satisfied by what she was doing. Sakura stopped a meter away and Naruto looked up to see her. He grinned the smile she loved too much.

"Hey Sakura-chan."

"Hey."

She took his hand and as the boys put down Naruto, she seated next to him.

"You're going to be fine, you know that, don't you?"

"I don't know, Sakura-chan."

She felt the tears coming and tried hard not to show it but Naruto saw through it, as always.

"Don't cry. It's okay."

"NO!!" Sakura saw Naruto look at her strangely and she stopped shouting, "no, it's not going to be okay. I'm… I'm…"

"What is it?" Naruto gave her a worried look and stroke her hair gently, "you can tell me, right?"

Sakura smile lightly. "I'm pregnant."

"You're??"

"Yes, I'm pregnant."

"But… is it… ?"

"It's your child Naruto, our child." Naruto grinned and started coughing. "Naruto!" He coughed and coughed and blood came out. "No…"

"I'm so sorry Sakura-chan. I would really like t…"

"Naruto!"

"Take good care of our baby Sakura-chan."

"No… Don't go!"

"I love you so much… I'm sorry…"

"Nooooooo!"

"I love you… Please…" Naruto, using his last strength, put his hand in Sakura's one. "I love you…"

Sakura closed her eyes and whispered: "I love you too."

Naruto closed his eyes and felt his life getting out of him. In the same time, he heard the Kyuubi complaining about how it was cold, so cold, so cold… _'Please, help me.' _

"_Cold, cold, it's cold…"_

'_Please Kyuubi, do something. I want to live, I want to keep on living, to see Sakura.'_

_Naruto heard the Kyuubi swearing and moving. "I can help you."_

'_Then DO IT. FAST. Please.'_

"_But it's not going to be pleasant. It's going to hurt, a lot."_

'_I don't care.'_

"_You're sure? Dying would be easier…"_

'_I'm sure. I'll never give up, it's my will of fire. I'll become Hokage and be with Sakura-chan, whatever the cost may be.'_

"_Then come here, come inside the gates." _

____ _

Next to Naruto stood Sakura. She was desperate, sad, lost but mostly afraid. Afraid of what was going to happen to her life, a life without Naruto, without the father of her child. Yes, Sakura was afraid but it was nothing compared to the terror she felt when Naruto started yelling in pain. The sound coming from him was almost unreal. Everyone moved back and for a moment, everyone feared the Kyuubi was freeing himself from Naruto's body. In fact, a strange red smoke was coming from Naruto and was taking the form of a fox.

"Hello village of Konoha." The voice was deep and frightening. "It's been a long time since I've seen it through my true eyes. This feeling… the power…"

Tsunade moved into an attack position: "I will not let you destroy the village. As the Hokage, I will protect it with my life."

"YOUR LIFE…" an enormous breath covered the entire village and Tsunade duck to escape the destructive wind, "has no meaning and could be taken away easily."

'_Is that the fox the fourth Hokage has beaten? I'm nothing compared to him… I'm not able to do something against him.'_

"BUT… I'm not here to destroy. I'm here to save that boy's life."

"… Naruto ?" Tsunade asked more surprised than ever.

"YES… he is the only one who knows how much I suffer… he is the only one worth saving. But, he is weak, and I am to… In order to save him, I need the blood of that cursed family…"

"Who?"

"THE UCHIHA…."

"Only one is alive… And he is in prison."

"Then, I'll go get him there."

"Stop! You can't just kill him like that," Tsunade said.

"Really? How about letting Naruto die?" the Kyuubi asked.

Tsunade looked at Naruto. He was still yelling in pain, and every second of his pain was horrible for her. She then looked at Sakura who was terrified and tried to calm Naruto. How could she let him die? He was like a son to her. After all Naruto and Sakura had been through because of Sasuke, they deserved to live happily. "Do it," she decided. And just after she said it, another scream was let out, coming from the prison. The two boys yelled together during two seconds and then, silent came back. We could hear the forest, the breath hold by everyone in the village. Tsunade turned her head towards the fox, only to see it had disappeared. Meters away, she saw Sakura taking Naruto in her arms and comforting him.

"Everything is going to be okay now, Naruto-kun, I promised."

Naruto slowly opened his eyes and saw his long-time love in front of him.

"I love you Sakura-chan."

"I love you too…"

Naruto put his hand on her cheek and kissed her tenderly. "I'll be with you forever, I promise…" As Naruto closed his eyes again from tiredness, his thoughts went to the Kyuubi… '_Thank you so much. I own you forever.'_

THE END

___

**AN : I hope you liked the story… I don't know if I'm going to start a new one soon. I have an idea but the time is missing to fully develop it. I'll probably do some one-shots when I have the time. Thanks you so much for all the reviews!! **

**Please REVIEW !**


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